Spring Cleaning

It was one of those "Awwwww" moments. While cleaning out and organizing our bookshelf at home, (which was such a hot mess, it was begging to be fixed)  I came across this book and as I opened it, this envelope tucked in between Marcel Proust's pages spilled out.

Then, a flashback: I remember Chico, Kaye and I walking around the West Village back in March 2008. We had just come from Chelsea (Loehmann's to be exact, where we scored  fantastic deals on shoes! Chico got Sam Edelman flats and I bought Sigerson Morrison sandals. I think Kaye was good and did not buy anything, imagine that!), and wanted to check out Biography Bookshop on Bleecker Street (where I bought said Proust book.  Biography isn't there anymore, it has since been replaced with MJ's Bookmarc). From across the street, we saw that there were people having their photos taken with a skunk through the windows of Marc Jacobs's store and of course, we had to have our photo taken:

I just had to scan this for posterity's sake. 2008 seems like a long time ago now. Chico was still single then, and engaged to be married to Jacob. Kaye was in NYC taking courses at culinary school, and Dear Hubby and I were married, but not yet blessed with Berry!

Today, Chico and Jacob are now the proud and beaming parents of bouncing baby Jet. Kaye has visited us once here in Singapore, and continues to educate us on the best places to go to for brunch in this little island we now call our home base.  Months after this photo was taken, of course, as you all know by now, we got pregnant and warmly welcomed Berry into our lives!

Time flies. New York feels like a lifetime away now. Must. Visit. Soon. Hopefully this Spring 2011 =)

P.S. - Oooohhh, I just realized, this is my first post using my new camera! I actually had it for a while now, but only started using it this December. Thanks for all your camera inputs btw! I got the Lumix LX5 (from Amazon - still much cheaper getting it in the US than buying it here in Singapore) and it does take great pictures. I am not totally happy with the crispness of the pictures though, I am still having a lola moment trying to figure out this contraption, hahaha!

BOOKMARC This Page

Growing up, up until today, I get a retail high from book stores and stationery supply shops.

Whether I needed it or not, I'd often end up buying things, always with some excuse as to why I needed them at the time - notebooks (Jordi Labanda, how stylish, maybe it'll rub off on me), pad papers (for my to do list, never mind if I have a Filofax - a Filofax, how quaint!), folders (I have lots of reading material to organize, as if), markers and colored pencils (useful when I'm feeling creative, which happens every 10 years), another stapler (this one's perfect stapling a thick stack of pages), a tape dispenser (it's pink and it has sand inside) and yes, books and magazines (do we need an excuse for that? Uhm, no) !

Days before the big move, my editor Cecile asked me to check out Marc Jacobs's new pet project called Bookmarc, a book store, for The Radar.

I said "Yes! Of course!",  never mind if I had 20 million boxes of stuff to take inventory of. Thought that was the perfect excuse to step out for a breather, because hello, it was for "work" you know.

A few days before Bookmarc opened, we happened to pass by and I saw it was still boarded up. I thought nothing of it really, except for the fact that I found it sad that Biography Book Shop closed down after years of occupying that spot. (Well it's not that sad, Biography Book Shop re-opened as Book Book down the same street.) With Bookmarc now in its place, at least the essence of the place to browse for interesting reads wasn't entirely lost in translation. To my eye, they also pretty much kept the place intact, save for a paint job.

Here are a couple of items that caught my eye:

Take note, nothing from Marc Jacobs's Special Collection items are over $30. So true to form, I couldn't resist walking out the store with stuff I don't really need, hahaha! (Hint: I'm giving that leopard print key chain away, along with some other things I picked out myself, for my long delayed blog anniversary giveaway! Will get to that when I have the time, pfffft! But yeah, watch out for that!)

Read all about my Bookmarc finds and their prices, HERE!

My Evening With Marc Jacobs on The Radar

Some weeks back, I personally discovered why Marc Jacobs is so well-loved, not only by industry insiders but by his millions of fans - from teenage private school types to grandmas with canes. Seriously. Every time I drop by his West Village stores, the mix of customers never fail to amaze me. There's always a throng of tourists and hip college students stocking up on Marc's affordable little trinkets - such as $1.50 lipstick pens, $5 compact mirrors, $15 totes, $18 umbrellas, and $35 tees at the Marc by Marc Jacobs Accessories store (385 Bleecker). Blazered and skirted blond tweens with their well-dressed parents shop side by side twenty-something fashion PR girl types, and the occasional older lady trying on vintage style pumps at the Marc by Marc Jacobs shop (403-405 Bleecker).

Along with a hundred or so of his admirers, I gladly traded an hour of my Sunday evening to hear him speak with T Magazine's Stefano Tonchi at The New York Times Center. He talked about his work, and surprisingly, even his personal life, saying, "I feel comfortable talking about anything."

Was it worth giving up a quiet Sunday evening at home for? Let's just say I was blown away with MJ, I swear I felt like we could be really good friends. He was charming, candid, and very down-to-earth. Not entirely what I would expect from a designer of his talent and stature. When it was time for the audience Q&A, he would speak to each person as if it were only the two of them in the room. He is a "people person" in the true sense of the word, and his ability to make a connection with every one who came to hear him speak, getting us to laugh and bitch with him, is obviously the secret to his success.

Read what he has to say about himself, his career at Louis Vuitton, his creative process, his love life, and what he thinks of celebrities and models on The Radar and tell me if that doesn't make you want to be best friends with MJ!

(Thanks to Scott Gray of Marc Jacobs PR for the press photo!)

You Make Me So Jelly!

When our resident home goods design expert Sarj told me about her article for The Radar, I just had to stop myself from running to the Kartell store in SoHo. No, not for another Ghost Chair, but for shoes! Yes! Shoes!

Because isn't this Glue Cinderella from .normaluisa and Kartell just adorable? It comes in solids (and "Ghost" too, see that one between the red and black ones)...



...and two tone as well...


And come packaged just so nicely! Sigh!


At $135 a pair, that's a lot more expensive than Hunter wellies and even Pucci rain boots off ebay, but as Sarj contends in her article - "it’s not just plastic — it’s art."

When the subject of jelly shoes of course comes to mind, Melissa can't be too far behind. I checked out their site for their latest S/S 09 collection and I came out more convinced that the jelly shoe has transcended trend and has become a wardrobe must have. Jellies have gone beyond being worn for practical purposes, and have become indeed, pieces of wearable art. Check this one out, a design for Melissa by Zaha Hadid, aptly called Melissa + Zaha Hadid:

Which comes in a variety of colors by the way!

Of course, jelly shoes are meant to be fun too, as seen in this Melissa Ultragirl + Oswald shoe (which also comes in chocolate brown and British racing green)...

And the beribboned Melissa Zen Girl in juicy color tones like strawberry and blueberry!

Luxe lovers who turn their nose up on "pedestrian" rubber sandals and shoes might just be willing to go a step down with Chloe's bridge line See by Chloe's tie-back jelly sandal ($125, available at Shopbop, spotted this too at Bergdorf Goodman)

or Marc Jacobs's jelly Mouse shoes, on sale now for $112 (from $160) at net-a-porter...

Or they might just go all out with this one by Givenchy for $170 (saw this at Curve NYC, also available at Shopbop)...

or this thong sandal from Tods for $175.



So tell me, are you jelly too?

Swim With Marc!

Here are a couple of reasons why we should be happy about the summer heat, thanks to Marc by Marc Jacobs' recently released swimwear line!

I may be too old for some of the prints and styles, but these are just too adorable to pass up! I'm loving the ruffled ditsy print bandeau top, the cutaway and asymmetric maillots and the striped and Little Miss Marc cover-ups! Eep! Sooo cute!!!

Berry Bakes + 30 Weeks!

I know, I should be past the craving stage, but I was craving for an honest to goodness chocolate chip cookie and I didn't want any of the commercial chocolate chip cookies found in grocery stores. I didn't even want patisserie cookies, although a chocolate mousse cake from Financier would have been good too, heehee.

So Berry and I decided to bake some cookies, and the Valrhona bar in the pantry that I bought a month or two ago sure came in handy, especially since we had to use that before it's best by date. We asked my SIL Leslie for her chocolate chip cookie recipe and our initial test was such a success!



We made the chocolate chunks from scratch!


See?


Here's our masterpiece...It was sooooo good! Chewy in the middle and a bit crunchy on the sides! We ate 5 cookies in five minutes! Heehee!


Here's Leslie's Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe:

1 cup butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 egg
2 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Heat oven to 350F. In large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar. Add vanilla and eggs. In separate bowl, sift together flour, baking soda and salt gradually then add to butter mixture. Stir in chocolate chip and nuts. Drop rounded teaspoonful into greased cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 mins or until lightly brown.

(In our case, we baked it a little longer, about 12-15 minutes to get that bit of crunchiness to it! We also did not fold in the chocolate chunks and instead added it on top of the cookie dough prior to baking. My SIL Lorr, who is the best in baking, suggests chilling the dough first overnight to make the caramel flavor of the cookie settle in. We only chilled this batch for a couple of hours because we wanted to eat the cookies right away, but it seems using chilled cookie dough instead of freshly mixed cookie dough does work wonders! Enjoy!)

We've been eating so much lately, no wonder Berry/belly has become this BIG! At 30 weeks!




Tunic: Topshop Maternity
Necklaces: La Elegancia, Marc by Marc Jacobs
Belt: Abaco
Zipper Trim Leggings: Topshop
Ballet Flats: French Sole London (For Kelly: I sent an email to them for their HK stockists, so I will update this when I hear from them, but in the meantime, you can check out Lane Crawford as they sell Repettos and they probably have French Sole as well!)

It's so funny actually, because 2 weeks ago, when we had our ultrasound, Berry weighed in at 2.7 lbs when babies her age should be 2.25 lbs. At this stage, she should be weighing 3 lbs., but I have a feeling she's much heavier than that now! Oops!

Sharing My Outfit Day: Inspired by Lolo

My inspiration for this outfit is my Lolo Cesar, my mom's dad. I actually think I got my love for dressing up from their side of the family. He was never the type to wear house clothes. He was always dressed up even if he had nowhere to go. His signature style included a tweed fedora (always! even in summer!), checkered pants, Penguin polo shirts and cardigans on chilly days. I also distinctly remember his penchant for wool sport coats and wooden canes. He often looked mismatched, but that was part of his charm. He was an old school gentleman through and through and I love his story of how he courted my lola. He had his piano mounted on a flat bed truck and played the piano on top of the truck outside her house! Talk about grand gestures!

Sunglasses: Ray-Ban
Scarf: Collection 18
Button down shirt: Topshop
Grandpa Cardigan: Marc by Marc Jacobs
Tweed Coat: Gap (Php500 from the Camp John Hay overruns store)
Belt: Marni
Jeans: J Brand
Shoes: Tory Burch