I was scanning a couple of blogs this morning and came across this post on Apartment Therapy about tiny living spaces (100 sq. ft) in Hong Kong. I love cramped tiny spaces. My ideal room would have stuff everywhere, but organized. Everything would have a home and there would be a loft or hiding place. Furniture would transform and tuck away.

I saw 2012 last night (no judging).

All I have to say is this. If you want to be entertained, go see. If you have $10 bucks that you want to just set on fire- go see it. Well, at the end of the movie, you find out that they have a fleet or arks that will be able to resist the impact of the tsunamis that will destroy the earth. And they were built in a short period of time in China. Now no disrepect to China, that’s where my family is from but I wouldn’t really trust a vessel hastily built in China. However, I would trust one built in say Germany or Japan.

Remember that scene in The Addams Family Values where Pugsley Addams is dressed up as a turkey at summer camp and he says “I am turkey. Somebody kill me“? That’s what I think of when I see this poor baby dressed up like a Anne Geddes Butterball.

I had to drop my mother off at MCO this fine Thanksgiving morning. She is going to Vietnam for a month to celebrate my Aunty #6′s birthday. She’s turning 89! I am so jealous. Not that my aunt is turning 89, but of my mom going to Ho Chi Minh, and Malaysia and Singapore.

On the way to the airport, she told me that she wants grandkids soon. Specifically twins. Two boys, two girls, a boy and girl- whatever, as long as they are twins.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

DALAT is in BRINK Magazine!

View the magazine here.

Courtesy of Apartment Therapy

If you get bored today and need a break from cable tv, your Netflix stack or whatever, go visit The Selby. You will kill time so quickly that you’ll feel guilty – a satisfying guilty, like after you eat a whole dark chocolate bar.

Below are images from Emi Kameoka’s home in Tokyo (110809). She is a fashion assistant for Vogue Hommes Japan.

Click here for her full story.

Straight from paper to flesh. Courtesy of Tim & Vass | Just Another Colette Blog.

I have no tattoos. I am pretty positive that I will never ever get one. I have serious issues with permanence and commitment. But- if I did ever get one, I would get a phrase or statement etched into my skin.

It looks like this is her first one and I like that.

Dree Hemingway, you are such a chameleon now with your platinum hair. (you’ll see, keep scrolling)

I meant to post these pictures from Purple Magazine (September 2009) a while back. The photos are definitely NSFW. I added that chastity bar. She is nude throughout the editorial except for the amazing Rodarte thigh high boots.

J E S U S.

Every single blogger is posting pictures of her and every single designer wants her to represent.

And speaking of Rodarte, THE duo I love love love. I was obsessed with them from the start. Handmade dresses. Enough said. They had the ideal Cinderella fashion story. I saved all of their podcasts and Style Studio videos and I have to say that their visual references for each collection are so exciting to me. When you hear them talk, they are all over the place, their minds so cloyed with genius ideas and then, everything falls into place perfectly for the final show.

The Target line lands December 20th.

Hint: There are Kurt Cobain references. I do love exoskeletons and all things grunge & heroin chic right now.

Merry Christmas to me.

Oh, and to hold you over for a split second, here are some more pics of Ms. Hemingway from those other bloggers that I mentioned earlier. I cited you guys, don’t worry.

I love creating collages. The cutting, the rubber cementing, and the arranging – on paper and in my sketchbook, keep me busy. I’ll post more in time.

Soon, the warm days will be gone and we will no longer sweat as much during the day. Thank god. I’m talking to you fellow Floridians. Here are some commemorative pictures. Farewell to perspiration. Say hello to boots, scarves, coats, nubby knits and hot cocoa.

Yum.

Enjoy these hot hot hot pics courtesy of the November issue of Numero Magazine #108. They remind me of Chris Isaak’s video Wicked Game. You know, the one starring Helena Christensen. Remember now? Now that was a steamy video.

Oh, and I put in the neck picture for all of you who are obsessed with vampires right now.

brink

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I was working at the Colonial Dechoes the other day and met Kyle Menard, the force behind BRINK Magazine. He was dropping off a stack of magazines. BRINK is an exceptional, well designed, full-color publication and the best part is that it won’t cost you a dime. That’s right. It’s free.

Kyle, the Anna Wintour of BRINK, is a go-getter and a half. He is not only the editor-in-chief, but is also responsible for the design and layout. Plus, he shares my love for Colette in Paris. The Colette site used to offer free PDF magazines that you could print out. Most of the copy was in French but the layouts were lovely. I still have one on my shelf. I’m not kidding around when I say that I have a periodical library organized chronologically.

According to the mission statement, BRINK is style + words. Fashion + function, music + song, television + film, media + art: all the facets that make our days better. All of those elements are essential and peek my interest. The first debut issue features a street style section and mentions Melrose Place and TOPSHOP (oh yes).

Support local independent business and pick one up at Dechoes or Etoile Boutique. Or if you aren’t local, you can find it here.

Trust. You will be so so pleased.

I attended two different estate sales this weekend. The first one was on Friday and was a total miss.  But, the one that I went to with Katie today was, in the wise words of Tony the Tiger, ggrrreat. We met up at Palmano’s, which I have not been to in ages.

Palmano’s has changed. It used to be Winter Park’s hidden gem right next to Kendall &  Kendall and the cigar shop, but now the cafe has expanded, stretching all the way to Park Avenue. The good news is that the alfresco seating has doubled.

We left because we were eager to check off item #1 on our morning itinerary, but also because there was a young, slick, swanky, shiny couple staring at Katie the whole time. Seriously.

The estate sale was hosted by Graham’s. Today was the last day so the house was pretty empty. There were people pouring out of the home carrying nautical treasures, furniture, and random planks of wood that looked like missing appendages to a larger piece. The things that were left in the home were all adorned with SOLD price tags.

We took a peek at the picturesque lake behind the house and then entered the garage only to discover THE postcard collection. We spent the next 1/2 hour pouring through stacks of old paper, oohing and aahhing and well, hoarding.

We are gathering ideas and inspiration for a collaboration project between A Rare Bird Designs and DALAT Designs. More info in time.

I have always been drawn to artwork that incorporates text. I love the written word. I like the copy bold and in-your-face. I like Holzer’s projected work, Prince’s (Richard) jokes, and Ed Ruscha’s song lyrics. I look at this type of direct, no frills artwork and wish that I made a living creating those types pieces. It makes me think of essay writing and underlining quotes and lines from novels as support for a thesis. Then, plastering your favorites on a canvas or wood panel.

I love the typeface used in Ruscha’s 1984. I want to train my hands to write number just like that. Anytime I come across vintage Orwell 1984 novels, I buy them. I am slowly building a collection.

“I felt newspapers, magazines, books -words – to be more meaningful than what some damn oil painter was doing”.       -Ed Ruscha (Rew-shay)

I have been listening to gunshots, thumping, bombs and explosions for the past couple days. This week marks the release of the latest Call of Duty game. In other words, ladies, this is the week that you can get away with murder because your boyfriend doesn’t even know you exist. I get to hear all kinds of different languages and I especially liked the parts set in Russia.

Speaking of Russia, here’s an editorial from Yen Magazine #35 appropriately titled ‘From Russia With Love’. 

I checked out an Annie Leibovitz book from the library, and I have renewed it twice already. It has a home right at the desk near the front door and I like flipping through it at night and reading each chapter closely.

I really like the Keith Richards photo and all the bed sheets strung up and laid down. I remember being so jealous when I heard Mary-Kate Olsen got an internship with her.

Perfect lighting. Perfect props. Perfect Kelsey. Perfect Yen Magazine #22 editorial.

Short and sweet. Makes me wanna go to Disney.

I woke up at 6am and trekked all the way out to Webster’s Flea Market today. Webster is only open on Mondays BTW. I was on on a mission to find vintage treasures, clothing in particular, and along the way encountered Rosey. She complimented me on my Nike Waffle Racers, and I complimented her on well, everything she had on. Miss Rosey, from St. Pete, was hosting a fantastic antiques booth and was by far, hands down the prettiest dressed gal at the marche aux puce. She looked very French. Rosey was such a sport when I asked to take her picture along with a detailed shot of her scarf and jewelry. I asked her where I could score vintage duds (she of all people there would know) and she let me know about her own finds at

Bottom Dollar Vintage.

I saw the same type of antiques over and over again. Everything from Depression Era glass, vintage business signs, mid-century knick knacks, guns and hankies. I didn’t leave with any mouth-watering vintage but I did score a near mint condition Stones album.

I asked if I could photograph a woman’s passport/wallet the other day because it was perfectly broken-in and distressed. She had a really great handbag and I loved that she used this accessory. The thing looked ancient- as if it had a solid purpose, lived a good life and visited so so many customs counters. Look at the marbled look of the rubbed off metallic coat! I just love buying things with AS IS in the description because there is a mild flaw in the condition which usually means that you will get it at an amazing price.

My friend Anhie, who is currently digesting and regurgitating so much information that she is becoming a living BING commercial, sent me a video on the edifice above. Apparently, a group of Swiss architecture students deciphered a code concerning a great flood that will destroy half the world population and are building an ark like in the Old Testament.

Gotcha.

Never been to Heidi-land but this amazing project gives me more reasons to go. Soon please.

I don’t really like taking online quizzes but on Apartment Therapy there was a personal style test created by the former editor of Domino Magazine. It was really fun and insightful, like a personality test but for design.

That and the driving range were nice distractions to the national headline making news that took place a half mile down the street from me today.

This morning I spent 3 hours at the best estate sale that I have been to in a long long time. The house, which overlooks Leu Botanical Gardens, was filled from floored to ceiling with artifacts, art, tapestries, and miles of well edited chotchkies. The place was like a winding labyrinth. I am not exaggerating when I say that I kept getting lost – over and over again.

Doors opened at 8am and I got there around 9:30. Both sides of the street were flanked solid with empty cars. The people who lived there before liked artwork with tasteful typography, admired Leonardo da Vinci, and the art masters like Rembrandt, Degas, and Lautrec. They were well traveled and they loved life.  When they saw something that they loved on their travels, they collected it. They purchased things big and small and found a place in their home for in.

It was a very warm home. You cannot professionally stage something like that. It takes years upon years of collecting and arranging and living to achieve that temperature of warmth in a home. Even though the house was empty and the content were all now adorned with prices hastily scrawled in Sharpie, the place did not feel lonely. I have been to so many estate sales and I have been to really depressing homes. You just don’t want to buy things from those homes. Trust.

This estate sale is still going strong this weekend. The people hosting the sale are super sweet and helpful too (there are other estate sale agencies in Orlando who are just God-awful)

Please go. It’s worth it just to walk around the house. The layout is a child’s dream location for Hide-N-Seek.