pretty things

here are some pretty things i've been looking at lately... been really home-centric since we moved in. only 16 more boxes to go, but still working on places to put things. once everything is organized i will post some pictures. i think my favorite part about the whole place is the windowsills. especially the one in the bedroom, because outside there is a really deep exterior windowsill, where i'm thinking of putting a little moss garden or flower box.


porcelain collie $195 from eden & eden


case study ceramic planter $149 from modernica


linen hamman towel €19.95 from le souk


bambu spoontulas $18 from branch





these pictures have had me daydreaming about a light coloured sofa with dark sheepskin... drool... i want an old fireplace like this in the next place i live. (pics from apartment therapy i think)

japan pt1

jon has been complaining about my lack of blogging since i got back so i figured i would try to post today. being in japan for three weeks, it's really hard to figure out how to start to blog about it in a way that makes sense, so i've just been avoiding it.

i'm still kind of trying to come to terms with being back. i got so used to our cozy little hotel room in shinjuku, and walking around the surrounding area and jumping on the metro to get wherever we needed to go. i went with the preconception that tokyo was going to be so crazy and such a sensory overload. i mean, it is sometimes, and especially at first, but after we got back to tokyo after kyoto and hokkaido, i became used to it. the hustle and bustle is kind of comforting to me in a way.

maybe i'll give you an overview of our itinerary and then go into detail in later posts.

day 1- travel day, shinjuku
day 2- maranouchi, imperial palace, ginza, shinjuku
day 3- shibuya, shinjuku
day 4- gotemba outlets, harajuku
day 5- asakusa, kabuki show, ginza
day 6- harajuku, aoyama, omotesando, ginza
day 7- nikko, minami-aoyama, shibuya
day 8- koenji, daikanyama, meguro, shibuya
day 9- kamakura, ginza, tokyo giants game
day 10- shinjuku, met. museum, akihabara, ginza
day 11- tokyo game show (chiba), odaiba, shinjuku
day 12- f1 race in gotemba
day 13- adventure world (shirahama), kyoto
day 14- kyoto imperial palace, kyoto station and downtown kyoto
day 15- southern higashimaya, inari, gion
day 16- northern higashiyama, downtown kyoto
day 17- hokkaido, noboribetsu
day 18- hell valley
day 19- shibuya, harajuku
day 20- shinjuku

also, lately i've been listening to some of the music of my youth, wearing my new yohji yamamoto noir+ alien sweater because it's cosy and warm, and drinking hot chocolate.

back

i am back from japan. tokyo was fantastic. this is the 'post' part of the trip when i complain about my city for at least two weeks, and compare it to whatever fantastic place i just came from. this behavior only happens when traveling outside of north america. post-travail depression? perhaps. at least i have the distraction of being moved into our new place. boxes are everywhere. how many boxes does your life fit into? what kind of pointless crap are you hanging onto? i am purging as much as I can bear.

being away has put certain things in perspective, and left others lingering overhead.

the internet intravenous was removed for three weeks, and it was a glorious relief. coming back to the internet, my rss feeds, blog, email... the feeling it gave me was dread. we had the cable guy come on tuesday and try to hook us up, but he couldn't get into the electrical room in our building, so no internet until last night. i was kind of relieved. one more day without internet was ok with me. working my way through hundreds of feeds is not as satisfying as it would have been a month ago. sensory overload which then leads to a feeling of irrelevance. especially in the fashion department. from this point on i am going to try and limit my internet usage. it's such a distraction from doing anything productive. hopefully i won't resort to my old habits.

i wasn't as overwhelmed with shopping in tokyo as much as i thought i would be. the shopping catch phrase was 'its all mens' because jon and i would split up in a store and meet back and i would proclaim the catchphrase with a sigh. ofcourse, there were many things i would have purchased had i the money, but not many things i am pining over upon return. i was more impressed with the mens stores than the womens, and secondhand shopping in tokyo is where its at. the majority of my yen was spent at ragtag. and i am also happy to say i got something that i have wanted for a long time, so it was very satisfying in that sense. in a way, there are so many stores in tokyo, it is hard to find something specific unless you know exactly what store to go to, which made my shopping list almost redundant.

proper post coming sometime...