wishlist

dear Santa,
I would like some clothbound penguin classics; a chunky sweaters, preferably the ruffly one from anthropologie; black ankle boots, stiletto heeled; motar and pestle; food processor; and an annual subscription to Martha Stewart Living.

dear mum,
I had so much fun shopping for you! I wore a pair of designer jeans, tucked in boots I stole from you, and strolled down bay and bloor as if I could afford to shop there. I felt so urban and chic. anyway, this gift is token of appreciation for all the support, love and help you’ve provided to daniel and I in the last year... can I borrow it sometime?

some fashion news

here’s fashion inspiration/news:

take a look at the august j. crew fall cataolg. I’ve loving the ruffles—so soft and feminine. there’s been an influx of american brands and stores in the canadian market lately; anyone know if j. crew is next in line?

InStyle requested the submission of wedding dress designs from various designers for some wedding in the twilight movie series (kinda like the design contest for jenna bush). my favourite is the one by lela rose. the high lace neckline looks like something coming out of a jane austen novel.

and oh! another season of project runway has started!

antique fair

went treasure hunting at the flamboro antique show and found some time-honored pieces: old comic books and hand carved wooden planes, all perfect for a little boy’s bedroom; vinyl jazz records and even a hand-cranked gramophone that transports me to the time of the big easy; tables full of tin cans and milk glasses ready to be filled with fresh flowers or little things like buttons and marbles. I came across many items I longed to take home with me but settled only with a few:

- a wooden box with the intent of using it as a side table beside our couch

- a pretty flower brooch in my current favourite colour (turquoise)

- two dollar teacups to accompany the coral anthropologie one on our teashelf

- a mirror with a metal floral frame

- a “shabby chic” foot stool which daniel and I both fell in love with at first sight. we had no intentions on purchasing it but at the end of the day it was still there and we just couldn’t resist.

everything purchased already has a place in a our little home.

artists in italy

I thought I’d wait till later- you know, like, when plans have been confirmed- before sharing the news, but I just can’t wait… a while ago the idea of travelling to italy to learn to paint came to mind. I’m not sure where it came from, but it came full force and it was all I could think of (even though we were in the middle of planning a cruise vacation for later this summer). I obessively googled painting/art/watercolour courses in italy and finally found Artists In Italy which offers (at more affordable rates than some other painting workshops) week-long courses of “painting and drawing in the delightful hilltop towns of Tuscany and Umbria”. imagine, painting for days interrupted in the beautiful rolling Tuscan countryside and travelling to little nearby towns for art, food and wine... oh the dream!

(picture source: vetrovka on flickr)

(picture source: Artists in Italy)

I corresponded with Julian and Amanda (the couple that run artists in italy). I requested more information. I perused their website and blog, visiting at least once a week. I daydreamed about being there. I wrote hopeful entries in my journal. I told daniel about it. I created spreadsheets to forecast our finances and to determine whether taking the course would be feasible. I thought of different ways to save my pennies.

and then we decided to go, just go, despite the costs of the course + flight, despite having to move some our other travel plans, despite needing to be very diligent with our spendings and savings.

we decided to go together, as in both him and I will be traveling to italy for a week. I will participate the painting course but daniel will be going just to keep me company. I guess, I could go alone, but I really wanted to share the experience with him. plus, he’s never been to that part of italy. we’ve already come up with a list of things for him to do while I paint: explore the area by foot and bike, learn to use alexis (the camera), play golf, compose romantic ballads on his little travel guitar. we’ll be experiencing tuscany and art together; could anything be better???

Yellena prints

I am loving these prints from Yellena. There's currently a buy 2 get one 1 free sale... anyone two people want a print? we can split the costs.

camera bag

(picture via oh, hello friend)

I came across bankgrrl's etsy shop a few weeks ago while searching for a camera bag for alexis (the camera). I have been eyeing the turquoise one. isn't it so chic? I'm saving up for it unless I win one (fingers crossed) via the blog oh, hello friend (go check it out).

in the meantime, I think I'll be getting a crumpler bag, as recommended by pheebs. it's more affordable and functionable and daniel can use it without eliciting funny stares.

my life in point form

today is an incredibly boring day at work so I…

• found the above, prettiest picture ever
• am craving brunch. doesn’t Kalendar’s banana and mango stuffed french toast sound divine?
• am excited about Bobbette and Belle. Parisian macroons will finally be here in Canada.
• researched about hedgehogs. I want one.
• am looking forward to dinner with two dear friends tonight

• composed a list of Christmas wants… includes a print from catia chien and these necklaces from sudlow, foudreblanche, and kateszabone as shown (respectively) above.
• am listening to claude bolling on classical 96.3 FM. he is my new favourite musician.

i heart shoes.

I purchased these gorgeous nine west shoes for my maid of honor yesterday (as a belated birthday- she's born in september- and Christmas present). she can wear the shoes with her bridesmaid's dress... except, then she'll be about two inches taller than daniel's best man.

there was a 30%-off-the-second-pair sale (which, according to daniel, doesn't really constitute as a sale) and so I purchased the grey pumps for myself.

not too shabby dresses

so let me I tell you how good I’ve been about money lately... I’ve been incredibly good. bo very incredibly good. I haven’t bought a single non-wedding related thing in months. Even though my wardrobe has somehow depleted significantly (I suspect my mum is stealing my clothes) and I’ve been wearing the same five turtlenecks on rotation, I continue to go to work in drab boring outfits. my work shoes, all scuffed up, and yet I still haven’t bought a new pair. yesterday, I wanted a starbucks coffee oh-so badly but I said no to my inner cravings and had crappy free office coffee instead. I can list myriad of other examples where I’ve exercised frugalness.

reward time, please...

I’ve been eyeing these dress from shabby apple for months now. how refined, fun, chic and utterly me are they? And the greatest thing, I can wear them as is (no need for a cardigan or a matching tank top) to just about anything (church, work, date, family thing etc.)

joanshum

these dresses are making me second guess mine... visit www.joanshum.com to see some more gorgeous handmade vintage-inspired dresses by joan shum. she also sells on etsy here.

shoegal

(prada's campaign ad)

(taking a little work break to indulge in some eye candy and materialism)

most girls dream of manolo blahniks and jimmy choos. myself, j'adore prada shoes; it started with a simple but utterly elegant satin pair of d'orsay pumps many many years ago. recently, while browsing on bergdorf goodman and neiman marcus, I came across the most beautiful prada embellished heeled heels:

ooh la la. just love the embellished heels.

(prada shoes from bergdorf goodman's shoe salon - click for more!)

and from miu miu, strappies with bejeweled heel in royal and cerulean blues!!! how drool worthy. who would like a kidney for $710? (isn't miu miu suppose to be the more affordable prada line? why are these a couple bills more expensive?)

(miu miu satin t-strap shoes from bergdorf goodman's shoe salon - click to see shoes in pink!)

and speaking of beautiful clothing I can only gush about, daniel tried on this incredible wool versace jacket at Tom's Place. he looked so dreamy in it- a million gazillion times better than when he's in that (ugly) snowboarding jacket he always choose to wear. if Tom had only reduced it by another $400...

dressesaccessoriesstationaryandbreathe

slight blogging hiatus due to ever-growing load of work. but much wedding progress has been made in the recent weeks.

first there are the shoes. couple weeks ago, after a skating double date with one of my bridesmaids and while “just looking” at a shoe store, I found these purple beauties. yes, at the time I had no dress, but nonetheless, I had to buy them. they are perfect. Standing 1.5 inches tall, I am still noticeably shorter than my fiancé with them. better yet, they are pretty and fun, extremely comfortable and on sale. they were my first purchase for the wedding (excluding deposits) and when I paid for them, it was such a significant moment.

as for the dress… I think I may have decided… thanks to my wishy-washy self, I nearly drove myself crazy with the whole made-to-measure vs. ready-to-wear question. I agonized for weeks; girlfriends of all sorts had to receive long lengthy emails full of questions and pictures. But then I went to visit Evan at Yanagi Couture again (I bought this cute custom made cashmere jacket from her store and had to pick it up) and she helped me refine my design, answered my abundant questions, allowed me to parade in many of her dresses, and offered me an excellent deal. all uncertainties quelled which lead me to the decision of getting my wedding dress made-to-measure. yes, I am going with that route and I will be wearing my design (which is probably the closest I’ll ever be to becoming Vera Wang).

bridesmaid dresses have also been bought. Again, my indecisiveness put me in a frenzy and making pro/con lists all day (Vera Wang vs. Thread) didn’t quite help. after many discussions with Daniel, we finally decided on the Thread dresses. They are more flattering on most of the girls and the colour (a boysenberry) is lovely. however, the dresses are slightly more expensive than I had intend for them to be (and more so than the Vera Wang ones) but my dear dear bridesmaids all agreed to Thread without a complaint or even a hesitation.

on a spending high, I also purchased my bridesmaids part of their bridesmaid presents on a whim. I saw them. they were a lovely gold colour and, once again, on sale, and so I had to get ‘em.

daniel and I also visited our jewelers. I am wanting an eternity wedding band. I am wanting to be blinded by diamonds.

lastly, there is the gocco. after seeing such beautiful gocco’ed invitations on weddingbee and etsy, I jumped on the bandwagon and bought a gocco kit! for those who are ignorant of this whole gocco craze, a gocco is a "self-contained compact colour printing system"... kinda like a screenprinting toy. for valentine's day, daniel and I embarked our very first graphic-design/printing project and created a design from illustrator which was then goccoed. t'was fun and I can't wait till we take on a bigger project (*ahem* the wedding invitations)

and fith, and sixth...?

and because dresses are are my mind and she is my favourite dress designer, here are some more pictures.


As is to be expected from Monique Lhuiller, an exquisite collection of sweet and delicate dresses.

the perfect thread

let me recount the bridesmaids’ dress shopping escapades thus far. last weekend Laura and my sister visited every store at Yorkdale in search of bridesmaid dress potentials. we found none. The pretty purple silk dress at BR was not very pretty on the girls and, yes, too short on Laura’s long legs. Then, along with Jamie, we went to Ritche where the girls tried on a couple of Dessy dresses. those dresses induced little reaction. No giggling, no excitement, no big desire to leave the dress one and stare at the mirror. the day ended with my sister telling me she didn't like the dresses they tried on and that they didn't look all that great on them (bless her soul, that honest child!). this past Saturday, we went to White Toronto for this bridesmaid’s promotional event and it was a very productive dress hunt trip.

now let me tell you a little bit about my criterias for the girls' dresses: something shorter than floor lengthsomething flattering, something reflective of their personalities, something they'll be comfortable with wearing an entire day, something they would want to wear again, something in a rich purple. I found all those qualifications with Thread. my first encounter with Thread was a glimpse of this Instyle picture:


I found on it somewhere on the Internet, fell in love with the concept of different styles of dresses, fell in love with every single dress in the picture, saved the picture on my (work, dad’s, sister’s, own, daniel’s) computer (for easy access at all times), printed it from my computer, stared at it (lots), wondered where the dresses were from, scoured the Internet for the designer/brand, was sad because all my searches were unsuccessful... but then, while clicking away one day, I found them on Thread! (it was a happy day)

The girls only tried on Thread dresses at White Toronto (little manipulation on my part, I promise!) and they looked fabulous! They found dresses we all l-o-v-e and it was very heartwarming moment for me when I saw them standing there, one by one, in the Thread dresses.

we have one more boutique to hit: Vera Wang! then we'll be done with the dress search and can move on to the dress purchase. very excited.

the even shorter hemline

the dresses mentioned in the previous post are lovely and highly coveted, but there is a hefty price tag attached. with the holiday season before us, brands such as Jacob, RW & Co. and Banana Republic are showcasing beautiful and affordable silk and satin dresses. are off the rack dresses the way to go?



(all dresses from banana republic)

I love the purple BR one. it’s simple yet so elegant! I just might get it for myself; there’s a gazillion holiday parties coming up and I need something to wear! the purple one would also be perfect for the wedding the wedding colour theme is shades of purple. but I am a teensy bit hesitant ‘bout dressing my bridesmaid in that dress because the hemline is a teensy bit shorter than conventional bridesmaids’ dresses. will they be too informal for a bridesmaid dress? will they be complete minis on the two very leggy (5’9” without heels) bridemaids?

tea time and cocktail hour

bright orange with booger green polka dots- that's the description of a bridesmaid dress I threatened to put laura in. with puffed sleeves if I was in a sour mood. but of course I am too good (and vain) to put my dear bridesmaids in something ugly.

the girls and I have been considering tea-length or cocktail dresses (the difference between the two being tea-length dresses fall around mid-calf and cocktail dresses end right below the knee). because these dresses tend to be less formal, the girls can wear it again by dressing it up or down; pair the dress with a brooch, flower or sash. one dress + different accessories = infinite outfits.

there’s a great selection out there for dresses with the shorter hemline. my favourites are below:

(from left to right: thread designs, siri, the dessy group, simple silhouettes, siri)

Beauty In Exile

Alice Temperley:

"Temperley London’s Autumn/Winter 2007/8 Collection draws inspiration from Paris in the early 1900’s with the arrival of Russian nobility, artists and their muses. Inspired by these glamorous émigrés, Parisian society was enraptured by the vivid and exotic scenes played out before them by Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes.

An intense meeting of tow cultures; organic silhouettes reminiscent of art Nouveau and injected with and energy of adventure are brought to life by the glamorous Russians in exile through intoxicating shades of amethyst, cobalt, burnt orange and gold."

wow. I'm in love.

kateszabone.etsy.com

pretty!