happy food

Sayaka Minemura's sweet little set on How's Your Weekend? led me to something wonderful: her breakfast project. I love these happy foods (and her wooden utensils) so much. Her blog, life in the slow line, is also super cute.

underdogs

Illustration by Fanny Bostrom

In light of Jessica's love for french bulldogs, I obviously had to post this playful drawing by Fanny Bostrom (which I found after admiring her sweet City Hall wedding). I think the gold watch is my favourite part.

hype dis

Some sweet new pieces are up at Carlos's blog - check it.

watch the sunrise

I love Volcano Choir's "Island IS" (thanks Hype Machine!) and the video is really beautiful - a series of coloured squares are projected on a wall, corresponding to the song. The white represent Justin Vernon's (of Bon Iver's) voice, while the other colours reflect certain instruments. The best (and most subtle) part? The whole video is shot during sunrise, so as it gets lighter out you become more aware of the surroundings and the squares slowly disappear.

all that jazz

I've been wanting a pair of little jazz shoes for quite some time, and these ones that I spotted today would certainly do the trick. Osborn Design Studio, run by Carla Venticinque-Osborn and Aaron Osborn, sell these fair-trade shoes which are produced in Guatemala (a country I hold very near to my heart), with locally sourced materials. Plus, this particular pair is velvet and floral, which really is a perfect combination (the booties in the same print are also equally fun/covetable).

foxhat

story : Drawn in a heartily way, it is a story about a girl who can't communicate with the world and she wants to breed the baby fox :
so she carries the baby fox on top of her head to disguise
from her mother as it is a fox fur hat.
From experiencing one occasion at a time,
she learns to open her heart to the world little by little.
(from the publisher: textcontext)

Today, I came across foxhat, a darling picture book by Korean author/illustrator Seungyoun Kim. Deciding it simply must have a place in my permanent book collection, I brought it up to the counter, where, much to my delight, the cashier slipped it into a lovely paper bag adorned with leaping rabbits, and tucked a sweet little card in alongside (extras like this excite me). Kim wants to "continuously create book that are not easily forgotten after the first reading: books that are fresh and can be kept for a life time" - I think she's done just that with foxhat. I love the endearing English translation (it's available in both Korean and English), my favourite line being, "We are the best friends in the universe." God, I love Korea.

we are handsome

Although it's getting far too cold to be thinking about swimwear (and I've been eating far too many cocoa chums), I can't resist posting about these amazing handmade swimsuits from Australian company We Are Handsome, which I came across via my friend Amy's Facebook page a few weeks ago. I desperately want that galloping black stallion one piece for the upcoming Thailand trip.

this is lovely

This is truly beautiful. The above video shows, in 3,000 photos, a woman creating 35 hand-crafted copies of her book, "The Complex of All of These." The entire process took 2 months, but it was certainly worth it - I love this so much.
(via)

talk nerdy to me

Greatest internet discovery of the day (if not ever): www.nerdboyfriend.com. Nerd Boyfriend features everyone's favourite fashionable nerds, from Art Garfunkel to Woody Allen to Bill Cosby, captured on some fantastic vintage photographs and paired with some helpful shopping guides on how to snag the nerd in question's superior style. Glasses, bowties, and blazers, oh my! This website is seriously amazing - I love it and so does my nerd boyfriend. Who ever said that nerds can't dress?

under the covers

I love everything about books - especially their covers. I'm obsessed with cover design, so finding The Book Cover Archive made me quite a happy girl. You can pore over pages and pages of covers, browsing by author, title, designer and even font. The BCA also boasts the portfolio sites of some very talented cover designers, along with a bevy of other links that are sure to satisfy any book lover's cravings. How cool is that?

roald dahl

Roald Dahl's writing room - read about it here.

Growing up, I loved Roald Dahl - his books (along with Judy Blume's, Laura Ingalls Wilder's, Ann M. Martin's et al.) are pretty much the reason I became such a bookworm. Matilda was, of course, my favourite, but all of his others are terrific. It's no surprise then, that many of his books have been turned into films - The Witches (which used to terrify me to no end), James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, Matilda (am I forgetting any?). The newest project? Fantastic Mr. Fox will hop onto the big screen this November. Why am I excited? It's directed by Wes Anderson (!!!), and Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman (!!!), Meryl Streep, George Clooney, and Owen Wilson are all lending their voices. I can't get over how, well, fantastic the combination of Roald Dahl + Wes Anderson + Jason Schwartzman is.

lula scrapbook

Tennesseed. My apartment. Just after she came back from filming with you. I made her swing her head so it would blur, I'm very happy it did.

New York City
By ALEXA CHUNG
Twenty-seventh of October 2009

Found an old panda car!

Nasu, Japan.
By FUMIKO IMANO
Fifteenth of October 2009

All the lost wedding dresses.

Regina, Saskatchewan
By CLÉMENCE POÉSY
Fifth of October 2009

Bridget Bardot and the Original Paparazzi.
An Exhibition of Rare Vintage Photographs.
Showing at James Hyman Gallery,
5 Saville Row London W1S 3PD, until 3 October.
Photo by SAM LEVIN

By LEITH CLARK
Twenty-third of September 2009

Lula magazine has a (relatively) new website, and I love it (almost as much as the mag itself). Epecially the 'Lula Scrapbook' section. Contributors include the Mulleavy sisters, Clemence Poesy, and Alexa Chung, and the photos are all so beautifully well-connected. All magazines should do stuff like this on their websites.

Bizarre Bazaar

Check out more of these hauntingly weird and wonderful photos here.

It should come as no surprise to anyone who knows me that Halloween is definitely one of my absolute favourite holidays. Not only does it involve copious amounts of chocolate consumption (those costco sized boxes of chocolates never seem to actually make it to any of the kids in my neighbourhood) but it's pretty much a world-wide theme party that almost everyone chooses to participate in. So in all my excitement surrounding big day/weekend I thought it absolutely necessary that I share with you this strange Tim Burton-esq fashion editorial from the October issue Harper's Bazaar. I can't tell whether I'm loving it or completely creeped out - maybe a bit of both - and of course (shock me, shock me) bunny ears make yet another predictable appearance.

The editorial is part Halloween fashion vignette part promo for Burton's upcoming retrospective exhibit at the MOMA. How cool does this sound...

"Following the current of his visual imagination from early childhood drawings through his mature work, the exhibition presents artwork generated during the conception and production of his films, and highlights a number of unrealized projects and never-before-seen pieces"

Come November I'll be wishing I could hop on a plane to NYC faster than you can say Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice.

rest, relax, read

While visiting one of my favourite blogs, I came across these beautiful book covers, the subject of "an integrated branding campaign based around the illustrative reinterpretation of classic book covers directed toward junior-high-school students." I love this - especially the REST RELAX READ slogan. How perfect. You can see the whole thing here. I want them all (and wish I was doing a similar thesis - how cool is this?).

McSweeney's Internet Tendency: Reviews of New Food

I've been frequenting the McSweeney's website for the past couple of years - the site is fairly text heavy (and a bit tiresome to navigate), but the text itself often provides some hilarious reading material ("It's decorative gourd season, motherf*@ckers") for days when procrastination is the business. One section I find quite entertaining (as I love reading/writing/thinking about food) is McSweeney's Reviews of New Food. This delightful little chunk of their website is filled with an abundance of bite-sized reader-submitted reviews, ranging from cilantro, to Hershey's Pumpkin Spice Kisses, to low-carb doritos, and so forth. I particularly like the one about Laughing Cow spreadable cheese wedges, as they are Korea's answer to my real cheese cravings (and I know Jessica, too, likes to always have some on hand in her fridge).

On a side: Although this really deserves a post of its own, The McSweeney's Store is having a sale (a cornucopia of cheap books, as they put it) and issues of McSweeney's Quarterly Concern are about 5 bucks each - far better from the full price I willingly paid for the issues on my shelf. These literary journals are comprised of quirky, endearing, and just down-right beautifully written short stories (Miranda July and Joyce Carol Oates are contributors) that are bound up in quite imaginative ways. Each book's design and editorial content differs from its predecessors and are certainly worth this generous sale price. I particularly like Issue 20. Dave Eggers, you rule.

i think this is cool

My incredibly talented artist boyfriend has finally gotten his act together and started a blog of his own: i think this is cool. It's still a bit under construction and I may be a bit biased, but I think it's pretty cool, too. xo

creative coupling: hannah and landon

While checking my fave style blog of the moment, Turned Out, I came across a post about this adorable couple - Hannah and Landon Metz. I quickly jumped over to their blog and loved it (and as such, want to recommend it to you). Their glorious Williamsburg apartment boasts an extensive hat collection, as well as tons of cute vintage bags, shoes, and picture frames. Landon has that whole 'i'm-dirty-in-the-best-way-possible' look that my boyfriend covets and Hannah is as cute as a button (and has some pretty fantastic party dresses). Another reason why I am admiring this inspiring couple? They are the creators of the international community art project, The Company of People (you can visit the Company Diary here). Oh, I just love love.

manhattan melodies + i ♥ hot dogs

Welcome to New York City, welcome to New York City! There's no questions about it: Jim Henson's The Muppets Take Manhattan lives in the upper echelon of my favourite childhood films (along with The Neverending Story, Mary Poppins, and The Sound of Music). I certainly love all of the Muppet movies (especially A Muppet Family Christmas, with the icy patch that everyone wipes out on), but this one is definitely movie magic at its best. The cameos! Rizzo the Rat is a chef! Piggy and Kermit get married! I haven't seen it in ages, but this seriously cool blog reminded me of my love for Kermit, the gang, and their quest to make it big on Broadway. I ♥ Hot Dogs has delightful film grabs from a wide range of movies (think Airplane to The Blue Lagoon to The Outsiders), and funny, snarky, reviews ("Let's get one thing straight: If you're not down with the Muppets, then you're a complete asshole"). I think a movie marathon is in order.