Forgot to mention about my recent tiring yet exciting trip to NY.... When I was there, I kept seeing people around NY carrying MUJI shopping bags, and it was killing me that I didn't have to time to make it there! Thank MUJI! for their brilliance in opening a MUJI TO GO shop in JFK, I was able to compulsively buy great little everyday well-designed and thoughful objects from them!! (noticed I didn't say god?...cuz MUJI is it's own religion..my religion) 
I got this neat soap sponge dish where it drains the water while allowing air flow to keep the soap dry same time!! So no more picking up soggy wet slippery soap, then dropping it & slipping on it and crack your tail bones on it. I hate that! Raise your hand if you agree with me....yeah! I know! Nobody likes craking tailbones on SOGGY soap. eew.
I also got this clever schedual planner notebook they produced by one of the winning designs from MUJI award 02. Designed by Won Kok Keong, this brilliant mind came up with this idea of using a simple and intuitive reference of a clock, to help you (and me!) visually log and graph out your daily schedual! I just can't wait to fill in those pages. All the exciting things I get to write in there!! OH BOY! oh-kay....here's what this coming Monday is gonna look like....Dec.29.2008
10:00AM-Alarm goes off
10:05AM-hit the snooze button for the second time
10:10AM-hit the snooze button 5 more times
10:35AM-turn off the alarm and falls back to sleep
12:00PM-get a wake up text from Chika wondering why I'm not at work and I text back "I'm up"
12:30PM-Finally get out of bed
12:45PM-brush my teeth and whatever
1:00PM-make some coffee and read my emails, check on L&G shop, read up on some blogs, watch some youtube videos, and go on facebook and super poke the crap out of everyone and throw snow balls at them. (nothing like virtual snow ball fights...yeah....)
2:00PM-gets exhausted from all the interneting and makes some lunch
2:15PM-eat lunch and watch some daily show clips online and laugh my head off while dropping food all over the keypad
3:00PM-check on Chika to watch more daily show clips and admire Jon Stewart's wit and charm together.
ahem...okay...I'm starting to think the whole filling in everything-I-do-during-the-day is NOT such a good idea....I'm just gonna write in "work from 10-6pm." DONE.
Ah..French macarons....oh! oui oui...how I love thee. I mean, who doesn't, right? They look and taste like perfection and heaven in every way.
I've been wanting to make them. But every time I start reading about how to make them, I always just give up before I even try....fearing that I would fail miserably. I read all the warnings, the unsuccessful stories, and the mixed approach and opinions from friends who made them, blogs, food forums, and so on. It's been a year or more of thinking about this and I've yet made them.....
But I'm tired of being scared of these macarons! I finally decided to confront my own fear by approaching it with an entirely new mentality....and that is...."I'm going to fail and make the ugliest French Macarons ever!"
Yup! This is my way of setting the bar super freaking low and actually expect something to go wrong in the process.....I'm totally gonna screw it up and it's gonna be great!! no shiny smooth surfaces, no perfectly round dome, no 'foot' on the bottom, no chewy texture....I'm just gonna try it and if I achieve even one of those things listed?? That means I did something right...
I did my share of research...and got some great tips and tricks from Coco&Me, Syrup And Tang, Serious Eats, some Forum and of course Martha for all the things I need to know to prepare myself a little bit.
So I followed the tips to sift the almond flour and confectioners' sugar couple of times....I mixed the egg whites without over beating it...I folded in the dry ingredients carefully without flattening the batter....I left enough space between the macarons.....I let the piped macarons sit for a little bit....I doubled stacked the trays so the bottoms don't burn....I left the oven door slightly open.....
Check. Check. Check.
Then I look over to the counter....there was one little bowl with some ingredient still remains....it was a quarter cup of granulated sugar that I had forgotten to put in!!! OMG!!! Serious!?
I threw a total hissy fit since Dylan was supposed to read the steps to me...It's complicated..... okay, well... he was using the computer, and I didn't want to kick him off the computer entirely and just thought that he's CAPABLE of reading at least straight from the recipe that's right in front of him!!! I trusted him! But NOOOO, he said because he was multi-tasking on the computer, he was too "distracted", and didn't mention to throw in the granulated sugar while I was making them!!!
I thought I had mentally prepared myself for failure in making these macarons...well, I did...I just didn't prepare myself to loose my faith in MEN!! That'll be the last time I ask him to follow instructions or any cooking recipes! GAUWWWD! (roll my eyes...)
But I decided to bake them anyways, just so they don't go to waste. And it turned out that they had an itty bitty little structure remained....as you can see that they're a little flat, but it's something. And the result was actually....not bad! I made 18 of them...and only 4-5 of them looked half way descent. So...here's to my very FIRST batch of macarons!! I went with the rustic look...
Then I used one of my more "charming" macaron (I put black sesames as it's eyes to make it have sad eyes...) to tell Dylan that I was sorry for getting pissed at him the next day.... Dylan ate the little macaron guy and was happy again. He's easy like that. :)
I think I'll make another attempt soon now that I've conquered my own fear. So much for the year of mental preparation and then somehow ended up putting our relationship on the line...and all because of these damn macarons!! I hate you for being so difficult! ....oh! I'm sorry...I didn't mean it!! I'm saying things that I don't mean.... You're so tasteful and delightful!! I love you, macarons!
So it started snowing last Thursday, and it hasn't really stopped since then! I've yet to experience this much snow in the 8 years that I lived Seattle! It's so surreal....I don't feel like I'm in Seattle with this much snow around! There's at least 10-12inches of snow that has accumulated over 4 days now. It's so lovely and peaceful....
Despite the crazy cold snow blizzard we're experiencing, we're all making the best out of the oh-I-can't-get-to-work-cuz-there's-too-much-snow-so-I-guess-I-should-stay-home-and play-in-the-snow predicament...
Since Dylan couldn't get to work or drive anywhere, we took some time to turn our home into a cozy festive holiday place!! (A little behind..I know. But it's never too late, I suppose)
We mostly walked & slipped around Ballard in the snow to do some of our holiday errands...and some playing, of course.
Here's what we accomplished during the snow days...
Found some vintage ornaments at the Goodwill....check out those cool faceted ones!
Re-decorated some messed up L&G ornaments...Dylan drew the weird squirrel's inside... I drew the giraffe with a bow and plaid pants....plus some other random fun doodling!
Decorated our tree and window sill...ahh, so festive now.
Made some peppermint hot coco.... Just blended some candy canes with some warmed up milk and coco powder and voila! Super yummy holiday drink!
Took some photos to send with Christmas cards at a vintage photo booth....This was our backup plan since we couldn't make it to Sears to do the holiday photos. :D
Dylan, Chika, Jared, and I played in the snow at midnight...they threw snowballs at the tree and made a smiley face.
And I thought traveling to the east coast doing 3 shows in 2 days was hard...no, no, no...this is WAY harder. Being forced to walk around in the snow taking photos, decorating our tree and home, and drinking hot coco??.....yeah, life is hard.
Well, hope everyone is enjoying their holidays as much as we are!! :)
Ok, maybe the title is a little dramatic, but I can't help but feel giddy after resounding success of JOIN: Design Seattle's second opening at the Vermillion Gallery last Thursday! Everything came together to be an inspiring display of refined, unique, varied, viable products. Amazing job everyone involved! Special props to Jamie and Brian from Iacoli & McAllister for putting the show together. Also thanks to the Vermillion for hosting us. If you're in Seattle, definitely check out the show and the space (which has an adjunct bar/eatery in the back). The show runs through Jan 4th.
We want all of these in our living room!: Urbancase credenza + Submaterial felt wall hanging + Ladies and Gentlemen's Mega-Doily area rug
Iacoli & McAllister's Corian and steel furniture and lights
Close up of Submaterial's felt wall hanging...all 900+ cut and assembled by hand!
Gray Pant's genius cardboard lighting. Photography can't describe how awesome the light travels through the cardboard layers in person!
Meet Me Here's bags: Jean just had to buy one!
Ladies and Gentlemen first studio project: AlphaBrass! Stay posted for more info on our projects.
There will be an one-day only sale at the opening with some great smaller affordable items such as holiday ornaments, jewelery, bags and more!! Can't miss it!!
We just got back from setup where we witnessed first hand how sweet the show is going to be. Everyone's stuff looks great in the space and we're so psyched to be able to participate.
See you there!
L&G got blogged on one of my favorite blog...Oh Joy! Joy's blog shares an aray of inspiration from handmade goods, to international designs, to homegoods, to fashion and beyond. Not only does she have a fantastic blog, she also has her own line of beautfiul paper goods, Nantaka Joy and runs Oh Joy Studio. 
Just reading about her client list, accomplishments and work makes me feel like I'm the biggest slacker! I feel shameful.....How does she manage to do it all?!....only god knows...and I suppose Joy herself would know, too.
On top of all other mayhem this holiday season, we're super excited to be participating in a design show that is showcasing NW design. It's called JOIN: Design Seattle and will be taking place beginning at the opening on Dec 11th at the Vermillion Gallery in Seattle.
What does L&G have up their sleeves you ask?? Here's a sneak peak with some process shots:
We're presenting two separate but related projects that look at ways to re-represent classic forms of vintage objects in ways that showcase their inherent qualities. Just like the goods in the L&G store, our goal is to help facilitate an appreciation of existing objects.
"AlphaBrass" is a series that re-formats ornate brass lamps in ways that enhances the varieties of classical forms they are available in. These lamps are modular, so the potential to mix and match is limited only on the supply available from local thrift stores. Adjusting scale, paring down details and reiterpreting function will hopefully promise to add value and appreciation for these typically stuffy living room fixtures.
For "Mega-doily" (the second project), Jean has taken her new found appreciation for crocheting doilies and channeled it into a grand interpretation of the common table top item. The result is an area rug with a satisfying knobby texture and bold graphical presence.
There will be more posts on both of these featured as we wrap up the final details and get these to the Vermillion just in the nick of time. If you're in the Seattle area, please please come visit us and come see it in person plus 6 other designer's work!
A friend brought this artist installation using legos by Jan Vormann to my attention the other day. I just love this brilliant use of these bright colorful plastic Legos to to fill in between ancient bricks on the side of the buildings around Italy and Israel. What an unexpected way to incorporate these legos. The contrast of color, material, purpose, and association between the bricks and the legso are virtually the polar opposite. Yet, it seem as if that's where the Legos should live all along...just perfect. 
For some reason I've been feeling super holiday-spirity-lately, but maybe it's the jolly feeling that is still resonating since the election. Either way....It got me and Chika excited for the holiday season...and life in general!! So, here it is! Our Chikabird cozy fuzzy wozy holiday items!
Left: Mama bird's nest made by Chika's talented mom, Tsuneko. Top Right: Linen zipper pouches with sulple indigo Vera Wang Linen. Bottom Right: Custom felt/fabric monogrammed slippers. (the one in the photo is for me...heh. J for JEAN!)
These are the vintage ornaments that I'm making for L&G. I have it in various series: Monogrammed letters, Safari animals, forest animals, farm animals, birds, and classic ornaments.
Jan from Poppytalk was nice enough to mention us on her lovely blog! 
oh and this..I really just LOVE the Mama Bird's nests, which made me go camera happy with it. I was expereimenting with these felted eggs....what do you think?? The face is just a piece of paper with pushpins for the eyes. They're gonna live next to our sewing machine now. :)
Is this making you feeling all warm&fuzzy inside?? no?? Hmmm.....Okay. Maybe I'll try something else...like putting all of our things on a puppy or a kitten or a baby...or all the above where the baby is on the puppy and with a kitten on top....That should do the job, right? :D
Yay! L&G's exclusive holiday ornaments has just been featured on Decor8 with her weekly etsy take five Tuesdays! Holly from Decor8 has super wonderful taste, so I'm thrilled to be mentioned!
These L&G ornaments are made with 1/8" birch plywood and vintage wallpaper that I've collected over the years. They been mostly sitting in a pile...as much as I love having them around, I'm much happier making things with it!
I've been getting into the whole holiday season and is brewing up all these ideas and projects. So stay tune for more things that's gonna make you feel all warm & fuzzy inside. :D
Just posted a blog entry on our house blog, Thirty.Thirtytwo, where I made everyone a Power Ranger with our character break down. I'm proud to say that this blog entry is by far one of the best entry I've composed. You can take a look at it, and disagree if you like, but I can assure you that it's gonna make you LOL. We're the Ballard Power Rangers...Home Edition! Woo Hoo!!
Luckily...this isn't a dream!! Palin isn't the VP, so all that won't happen to us...except in Alaska. PHEW!! sorry, people and animals in Alaska.:P
With all this anticipation and anxiety that I've been feeling for the longest period of my life, it totally went away when I saw Obama's number rising up beating McCain's with incredible speed...He even won states that we never thought it'd be possible! Obama....is a true miracle.
When we watched Obama's victory speech intently and quietly as everyone absorbed every insightful word that came out of his mouth. Watching the TV screen as the camera switches between his face and the hopeful tearful faces of the people, it just filled me with joy, hope and love for America for the very first time. Honestly, for the fact that I wasn't born in the States, I never understood the meaning of America or felt any sort of patriotism what so ever....until now. I'm sure this goes for everyone...to finally be able to be proud as an American....and it's beautiful. tear...(;_;)
In memory of this amazing historical election I'm getting these fantastic pair of posters by Flora Fauna. It's $35 for the pair of prints. I love the colors and the composition of the mirrored image of the doves symbolizing peace, hope, and love. We ARE the United States of America!
This is it...today is final election day. It's hard to imagine how EVERYONE's lives will change depending on what happens on November 4th, 2008. I mean..this is HUGE! It matters not only to the people in America...but also to the rest of the world!
I have a feeling that I'm gonna cry either way...If Obama/Biden wins...it'll be tears of immense joy and new hope for America. But if McCain/Palins wins (which they WON'T!)...it'll be tears of what-the-F*&K and S^#T-we're-all-gonna-die!!
So, to ensure that that no voting fraud can happen to our ballots, Dylan and I took photos of ourselves as proof to show who we voted for. But also to document us experiencing this extraordinary historical event. I'm imagining 10 years from now when we share this with our kids....oh, about how back in the day we had to use a device called, pen, to physically write in our votes and how we carefully and precisely darkening in the bubble area next to Obama and Biden's name, sealed it in a separate paper-made pocket called, envelope, and sent out our ballots to a place called, post office, which sort out millions of other envelopes, which then gets delivered to the final destination and gets counted. We'll most likely have to explain all this, since I'm sure 10 years from now the technology will be so advance that our kids will be voting with their minds or using some blue-toothy GPS robot-humans, whom will count the votes and teleport that to the central voting HQ, which will be stationed on Mars or perhaps, Saturn...I'm pretty positive that's gonna happen.
Oh yeah, I also had to document this beautiful work of art by Dylan & I where we drew hearts and a halo around Obama's photo and little sparkling marks by Biden's shiney white teeth on the voter's pamphlet. 
And here's McCain with that goofy swim goggles and douche-bag-looking mustache and that man-lady Palin with a Hitler mustache and Adam's apple. Despite their looks, I think they make great candidates as president or vice president of Wal-Mart superstores.....Alaska.
This is the mark of 2008 election....Let's all witness history tonight.
Finally! I got my beautiful mustard colored YOKOO scarf!! I've been obsessing over it since my last post about her amazing handmade scarves before Fall even came...I finally just had to get it. It was hard deciding the colors since they're all so amazing. Just look at all the colors of yarn on her shelf...and that great teal wall. Check out her flickr where you can see great work, great photography, great portraits, great inspiration!
Not only does this scarf makes you feel like the coolest person, wearing it also keeps you warm!! DOUBLE BOO YAH! The yarn she uses is big and soft, and feels so warm&cozy even on a depressingly wet & cold Seattle day. So here's me wearing my Yokoo scarf....."Oh! you like my scarf? Yeah, I know, Me too! Oh! and you think I'm the coolest person ever as well!? aww...jeez...thanks!! yeah...I TOTALLY agree with you on that..I AM cool!"
L&G Shop is back!! And oh boy, do we have some fantastic finds! First things first, I just have to say that this Olivetti graphic for their typewriter is the coolest thing I've seen! We happened to have painted one of our walls similar to that green! Plus we have an aqua Olivetti typewriter which we're totally gonna hang it on the wall as a display! Now I just gotta convince Dylan to paint one of the walls with that pink...
Dylan and I gathered a collection of diversely vintage typewriters. The antique industrial Remington, mid-century Italian Olivetti and classic Olympic, and all are available on our L&G shop! We're psyched about these since each and every one of them are in great working condition. They all have fantastic color schemes and design details! There's nothing that compares to the satisfying clicking sound of the keys.
Check them out! 
If you're into Olivetti typewriters, check out this site to see all their vintage designs!
Just saw these series of beautiful carved sea stones vases by Mitsuru Koga on Tortoise shop's website. Toroise is a fantastic shop showcasing many contemporary Japanese crafts, art, and designs. I got to check out the their two shops on Abbot Kinney Blvd, Venice Beach when I last visited, and I have to say it was one of my favorite shop! I'd love to see these vases in person and hold them....and carry it in my pocket where ever I go. Aren't they precious?! 
Since the last post, I've been wondering about that book "The Fugitive Pigeon" written in 1965 by Donald E Westlake...So I looked it up and this is the ACTUAL story line...
"Listen carefully to this story, originally published in 1965, to catch the occasional telltale clues to its age. In this comic crime caper, Charlie Poole works the bar in Canarsie (Brooklyn) for his Mafia-connected Uncle Al, occasionally holding packages for late-night pickup. Suddenly, life gets exciting when two hit men show up to silence Charlie. He manages to escape, but he's on the run, hiding from the organization and at the same time trying to contact the boss to find out what error brought all this upon him. Of course there's a beautiful girl."
I do like how it says it's the "gayest chase of the year!" But, seriously...how can a story about someone running for his life be "gay"? But it doesn't matter, because there's a beautiful girl involved.
Still, I think I like my story line better (not to be cocky).....I just like the idea of an actual pigeon running for its life from two humans. Just picture that in your head for a second.....yeah...heh heh....that's WAY funnier. :D
