keeping it short and sweet

I've worn different hairstyles through the years but truth be told, I feel the girly-est and sexiest when I wear it short. And I mean, real short. I decided to go with the pixie cut back in 2005, and basically sported the short 'do for 4 years before deciding to slowly make my way back to long hair.

But now I am back to sporting the pixie, and I'm loving every minute of it. There's something liberating about telling your hairdresser to chop it all off. In fact, when I told that to my hairdresser he became hesitant and suggested a bob instead. But I insisted and couldn't be happier.

Here are some celebrities whose pixie cuts I absolutely adore.

L-R: Carey Mulligan, Katie Holmes, Natalie Portman, Audrey Tautou

 L-R: Selma Blair, Agyness Deyn, Mia Wasikowska, Michelle Williams

L-R: Mia Farrow, Edie Sedgewick, Twiggy, Audrey Hepburn

So many styles, so little time! I am excited to explore the different pixie styles in the years to come.

a big fat juicy cheeseburger salad

These days, I really try to eat healthy, especially now that D and I are doing the weekday veg thing. But sometimes, I get tired of leafy greens and just want to sink my teeth into a big fat juicy cheeseburger.

But now I know that I can get away with both.

Meet the Cheeseburger Salad

This is brilliant! Not to mention, easy to make. Wanna know how? Click here.

[Photo from Curbly]

toothpick city

I came across this amazing architectural model of San Francisco a while back on Apartment Therapy.

Scott Weaver started building this toothpick structure at the age of 17.  It took him 3,000 hours and over 35 years to finish. Yes, one toothpick at a time. I'm at a loss for words.

Read more about it here.

[Photo from Apartment Therapy via Experts Agree]

the weekend

D and I have been pretty busy putting our wedding website together. And I am happy to say that it is coming together quite well, and will soon be available for your viewing pleasure.

Last Friday, we took a break from the website work and attended a Thai indie film screening. A former colleague knew one of the actors who starred in one of the films and invited us to get local feedback and support. The film screening featured 3 short films by 3 Thai directors.

Hush! by Tanis Pintong
Siam Missed Connection by Krisada Keith Kanivichaporn
The Misbehavers by Nattawut Poonpiriya 

D and I were genuinely impressed by the films, especially The Misbehavers. Definitely worth a watch!


Misbehavers,the trailer from A Washing Machine Production on Vimeo.


The film was shown at the House RCA. My first time to watch at House and I was fascinated with the walls in the theater lobby.

A massive wall to play a game of connect the dots.
There was another wall that resembled a page out of Where's Waldo?
Too cool! I felt like I was a kid again. 

space savers

A friend posted this video on Facebook, and I was floored with the amazing space saving function of the furniture. Watch and see what I'm talking about.



Resource Furniture is the official US distributor of these revolutionary space saving furniture by CLEI from Italy. Now if only this was available in Thailand, it would do wonders for our 65 sq. m. (700 sq. ft.) apartment!

i still want clogs

I used to have a pair of clogs in blue denim when I was 10, and I'd wear them all the time that my parents begged me to wear something else. Now that I'm well in my twenties, I still love clogs. I want clogs even if D thinks they are ridiculous-looking. Whatever. I still want them!

I love these from Steve Madden. And I want each one in Cognac Le and Black Leather.

From L-R: Ceceila, Daynty, Melrow, and Warrick.

Find your fave pair here.

[Photos from Steve Madden]

happiness in a box

I love it when my clients are happy. But I love it even more when D's clients are happy. Because when D's clients are happy, we get free stuff.

Yesterday, his client gave us a box of goodies.

See what lies inside...

Now, this is what I call happiness in a box!

graffiti plate

Love this Delft plate set that I spotted on Design for Mankind! Look closely and you'll see why.

It has graffiti print on it! Cool, eh?

Add this to the wedding registry!

[Photo from Design for Mankind]

silk and pleats

D is en route to Cambodia as we speak. He left at an ungodly hour and I've been up since then. Robbed of sleep, I resorted to daydreaming about the perfect white dress I chanced upon at the Chloe store in Siam Paragon yesterday afternoon. Sadly, the said perfect white dress had an imperfect price tag - a whopping THB 225,000 to be exact. Cryyyy.

I am in love with Chloe's Summer 2010 collection. As Laird Borrelli-Persson of Style.com put it, "Hannah MacGibbon played the flip side of the seventies at Chloé—think Annie Hall meets Laura Ashley." Well said.

I, on the other hand, personally think those silk mousseline dresses are to die for.

Hey, a girl can dream right? 

[Photos from Style.com and Chloe]

good enough to sit in, good enough to eat

Remember the Bread Shoes? Well, this time meet the Panpaati Furniture.Yes, it's made of bread.

Spanish industrial designer Enoc Armengol made these chairs that are good enough to sit in and eat! Read more about it here.

Yum!

[Photos from Inhabitant.com]

happy dad's day

Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful Dads out there! And of course, a special shout out to the bestest Dad a girl could ever have (and my favorite boy in the world), my Dad!

 

Pictures taken with Elvis, my Supersampler.

I wish I was in Manila right now to spend this special day with him. If I was home, I'd treat him to a gastronomical feast of glorious Chinese food from his favorite Chinese restaurant, and make him eat all the dim sum he can stuff himself with!

I miss my Daddy. And suddenly craving for dim sum.

steady saturday

D and I spent Saturday separately. Well, for 4 hours at least. I watched Sex and the City 2 and he went to a tech store to get his geek on. It was definitely a first for us as we almost always do everything together. It's good to have alone time once in a while.

D was also raving about a new camera app he downloaded for his phone. Here are some shots of a rainy Saturday afternoon in Bangkok.

Not bad for a camera phone, no? 

I have camera phone envy because my Blackberry takes crappy pictures.

Bangkok Underground

Skywalk to the Skytrain

Meanwhile, inside the mall... We decided to grab a bite at Greyhound Cafe.

I couldn't decide what to order.

But later on settled with this yummy brownie and a plate of DIY Nachos with Grilled Chicken. 

No picture of the nachos with grilled chicken. It was so good we finished it before we even thought of taking a photo.

How was your Saturday?

luggage to sit in

I'm on a roll with luggage posts so here's another one for ya!  Spotted this cool idea on Curbly.

Katie Thompson shows you how to think out of the box when recycling luggage thrift store finds. I'm not sure if I can pull this DIY project myself. But I'd love to have one in my home.

Read more about it here.


[Photos from ReadyMade]

LV for Darjeeling Limited

I am itching to travel! And when I do, I want my stuff packed in this irresistibly quirky looking luggage set!

Louis Vuitton "The Darjeeling Limited" Luggage Collection

Remember these from that infamous movie by the talented Wes Anderson? 

[Photos from Highsnobiety and The Telegraph UK]

feed thy love for travel

It's been months since my cable provider took out Nat Geo Adventure from the channel listing, and yet I am still mourning the loss. You see, I turn to Nat Geo Adventure to stimulate my brain after watching a bunch of shows that do the reverse. It also helps me to dream of far away places and feed my love for travel. I miss watching Lonely Planet: Road Less Travelled, Bondi Rescue, Pressure Cook, Banged Up Abroad, Word Travels, and Food Lovers Guide to the Planet to name a few. Weekday afternoons will never be the same again.

Speaking of feeding my love for travel, I want to get my hands on a copy of A Map for Saturday. Have you heard of this film? I caught a bit of this film once on Nat Geo Adventure. I want to watch the whole film and be inspired to follow suit.

It's an inspiring documentary film on how producer Brook Silva-Braga quit his job at HBO to travel the world. I really, really, really wish I can do the same.

meet mrs. b

I haven't met my soon-to-be mother in law in person yet, but we have spoken many times over chat and Skype call. I've met moms of boyfriends before but Mrs. B is different. She makes me feel right at home. I don't think I've ever felt so comfortable with a mom of a boyfriend before. She's just too sweet. In one phone conversation she said to me: "I'm so excited to have another daughter! Thank you for making my son very happy." It made my heart melt! I'm really excited to meet her in person in January!

Anyhoo, I came across this vintage picture of her posted by my soon-to-be father in law on Facebook.

I love this picture of her.
 

D said his Dad always looks at this photo fondly. Now that deserves a resounding aww...

japanese street art

I caught a glimpse of Tokyo on CNNGo today. There was a segment on graffiti in the streets of Tokyo. Needless to say, I was enamored by this jaw-dropping street art.

The segment also featured Remo Camerota who came out with a book entitled Graffiti Japan, which exhibited photographs of Japanese graffiti. Here are some of the images from the book.

Uh-mazing. This alone warrants a trip to Japan to see it all for myself. Now if only I can convince D to give Japan another go.

[Photos by Remo Camerota via CNNGo]

nothing left for me to do but dance

As expected, D and I had a blast watching the US vs. England football match (1-1 YEAH BABY!). So much fun that the sun was already rising when we went to bed. So naturally, today was spent recuperating from last night's festivities.

Spread out on our couch and glued to the TV, I was happy to catch Napoleon Dynamite on HBO and was reminded of that awesome dance scene.



When Team USA scored a goal, I wanted to bust a move just like Napoleon.

Hope you had a great weekend too!

of house color and world cup fever

I recently caught a sneak peek of the talented Karen Barlow's home at D*S, and was instantly drawn to the brilliant mix of vibrant colors and rich textures in her home. Just check out the bold colors in her living room!

[Photo from Design*Sponge]

SO JEALOUS! I swear someday I, too, will have a home that will be so colorful it will put Rainbow Brite to shame! I can't wait to go crazy with paint.

Want to see more of this awesome home? Click here.


In other news, World Cup fever has started and has infected D. D, albeit not being much of a sportsman, grew up in a household where football matches are always on. My soon-to-be father in law is a football fanatic. D describes him as a "couch kicker". If there are 11 players on the field, D's dad is the 12th player hitting goals from the comfort of his own couch.

Tonight (well, more like Sunday morning), D and I will go to the Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel to watch the US vs England game together with other Brits and Americans. The event is being sponsored by the American Chamber of Commerce in Thailand (AMCHAM) and the British Chamber of Commerce in Thailand (BCCT). Although I am not a big football fan, I will be there for the free flowing drinks and the ever-so amusing trash talking. It'll be a lot of fun!

too pretty to butter

This toast is just too pretty to butter. Seriously. I won't dare spread anything on it. I'd stare at it until it becomes stale.

Thanks to this nifty DELFTS Toast Pan, beauty in a piece of toast is possible.

Maybe I should add this to our wedding registry... hmm.

[Photos from Design for Mankind via Zeutch]

stress and the perfect getaway car

So now that the announcement has been made, the wedding planning is well on the way. And together with the planning comes the stress that seem to come in full force. Sigh. We got the best advice from D's boss today: "Hang in there!" Well, from the looks of it we'll be hanging on for quite some time. Seven months to be exact!

As I try to catch my breath after a morning of researching for hotels and tours and answering emails from people in Manila and the US, I'll leave you with something that has taken my breath away.

The Vespa Ape Calessino.

Wouldn't it be the perfect getaway car after the wedding?
Oh boy, I want!

[Photo from A Cup of Jo]

this is it

Last night, D and I gave the down payment for the hotel reservations for our big BBQ party in 2011. As soon as the transaction was made, D turned to me and said "This is really happening! Seems more real now. We're getting married!"

So for you guys who haven't caught on, the BBQ Party I keep referring to is our wedding which will be in January 2011. I didn't really want to make a big fuss about the announcement but...

YES! WE ARE GETTING MARRIED!

*happy dance*fist pumps*high kicks*chest bump*do the hokey pokey and you turn yourself around, that's what it's all about*

I'm excited! elated! ecstatic! over the moon! ridiculously and deliriously happy that I am marrying the bestest man in the world! What can I say? I'm one lucky girl.

So with that I leave you with the first pictures of D and I, taken on our semikindasorta first date.

Probably One of the happiest days of my life. 

Afternoon picnic at the park followed by dinner and drinks at Heineken Green Space, Central World.

hola chica

Recently unearthed these dresses from Etsy. Ah Aida Coronado, I am in love.

More to love here and here.

[Photos from Aida Coronado]

a hint for my birthday

My birthday is not until October but I'm giving Santa err.. all you thoughtful and generous folks out there a heads up: I want a Plato Dutch bicycle... in Aqua and Salmon.

Thanks to the awesome partnership of Urban Outfitters and Republic Bike, you and I can now get our own custom, retro-chic Plato Dutch bike.

Yay!

[Photo from Urban Outfitters Bike Shop]

picnics and vignettes

I am getting more and more excited about D and I's BBQ Party next year. A lot of family and friends are planning to attend, and I am thrilled at the idea of being surrounded by our loved ones on such a special occasion. I can hardly contain myself!

In lieu of all this planning for The Party, I am constantly on the lookout for inspiration. I rely on sites like this, this, and this for awesome ideas. Just recently, I've come across another inspiration that left me gushing over the details.

Marnhe and Simon's celebration is definitely one for the books. I love how it was a labor of love from friends and family who were more than willing to pitch in with the preparations. I also love how the couple's love for picnics was incorporated into their day. Photographer Riekert Cloete really captured the joyous occasion. Just look at the wonderfully saturated pictures! Not to mention the awesome vignetting! It's love.

[Photos from Snippet and Ink]

all dressed in white pt. 3

Thanks to my fab friend, Edmir, for introducing me to the wonderful world of Pia Gladys Perey. I am seriously considering donning one of these lovely Grecian-inspired dresses for D and I's BBQ Party in 2011.

Lovely. Just lovely.

[Photos from Pia Gladys Perey]