Giorgio Armani Chocolate Easter Eggs

Cracking open an Easter egg has never been so chic! Just in time for Spring and Easter, Giorgio Armani created a delectable line of milk, dark, and white chocolate eggs with a fun surprise inside. The eggs are all stamped with the signature "A" and will be available at Armani stores through to the end of May. A high-end version of the Kinder Surprise egg, I suppose?

ABC Paper Cups by IaM Design

ABC Paper Cups put an end to the boring design of traditional paper cups, which are easily confused with one another. These cute cups were designed by IaM Design firm based in Seoul, Korea. Watch this video to see how these paper cups can be used to spell out words and messages. More information can be found here.

Weeks of March 8-28, 2010

There was a time a couple weeks ago when it rained the entire weekend. It was so frustrating.


And then the weather got really really warm and nice. Yay for sunglasses and for a while I was obsessed with OPI "Birthday Babe" (although you can't really see it in the picture).


My little brother wrote me a letter before leaving for Florida. Oh kids.


Dim sum. Enough said?


I love the days when I go to Chapters, grab a drink at Starbucks, and spend all day reading design books. I want to own a collection of design books one day, but for now, they are way too pricey.


Starbucks, of course.


Being silly with Livia.


Went shopping in Buffalo. Have I ever said how much I hate American bills?


Daiquiris :) From Kelsey's, I believe.


St. Patty's day cupcakes. Such a shame that we ended up throwing up the majority of these.


Alcohol in my purse.... YEAH, I'm so classy.


My desk is super messy, but it was such a beautiful day. Everyone had their windows open and the sun was shining in. Every day should be like this.


Note to self: Allen tried to attack me with this branch.

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Streamlined bucket list.

A bucket list of 100 things I want to do before I die isn't very measurable, which is why I chose the time frame of fifteen years instead. I know that many of the things on my list may seem unattainable, but if I even complete half of these, I think I will be more than satisfied.

SERIOUS STUFF

1. Let myself fall in love again.
2. Depending on #1 – get married?
3. Depending on #2 – have children?
4. Find a full-time, long-term job that I love. Establish a stable career.
5. Start my own business (on the side).
6. Live in a high-rise condo in the Lakeshore Toronto area with an amazing view of the city or lake.
7. Fully design and decorate my place to make it modern and "my own".
8. Obtain an Ontario Real Estate license for no reason.
9. Sponsor a child from a third world country.
10. Donate a four digit sum to a charity, anonymously.
11. Reach financial stability -- whatever that may be at the time.

TRAVEL

12. See cherry blossoms in Japan (if not, Vancouver or Washington).
13. Visit the Great Wall of China.
14. Learn to surf in Hawaii.
15. Go snowboarding in Whistler, BC; Montreal, QB; and Tahoe, California.
16. Visit Alaska and take photos of the beautiful scenery.
17. Go on a vacation with the girls to an all-inclusive resort. Drink lots of margaritas, tan, go to the spa, and be completely worry-free.
18. Gamble at a casino in Las Vegas (within reason).
19. Go shopping on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, California.
20. Drive down Route 66 in California.
21. Take a picture in front of the Hollywood sign in Los Angeles, California.
22. Be spontaneous and plan a last-minute vacation (within 24 hours of departure).
23. Take the Via Rail train to somewhere other than London or Oakville.

ACTIVITIES/ACTIONS

24. Watch the sunrise and sunset on a beach with someone I care about.
25. Ride in a hot air balloon.
26. Put a letter in a bottle and throw it into the ocean.
27. See a shooting star.
28. Take a milk bath. Or mud bath.
29. Go ice-skating on the Rideau Canal in Ottawa.
30. Spend a day in the West Edmonton Mall.
31. Drink a little too much champagne, stick my head out of the top of a limousine and be completely happy and reckless.
32. Jump off a cliff.
33. Learn to drive stick. Just for fun.
34. Publish an article in a well-known magazine or newspaper.
35. Live and work somewhere outside of Ontario for at least 4 months.

MUSIC, ART, AND FASHION

36. Attend a music festival in another country. Coachella, perhaps?
37. Attend a Westlife concert.
38. Attend a Marc Jacobs fashion show (or Michael Kors, Vera Wang, Christian Dior...).
39. Attend the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival in France.
40. Be brave enough to sing karaoke in front of an audience on a cruise ship.
41. Compose and finish an entire song. Guitar or piano, with lyrics.
42. Watch a symphony at Carnegie Hall, New York City.
43. Visit museums: Museum of Design Atlanta, Design Museum Holon (Israel), Museum of Modern Art (New York), Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), The Louvre (France), Guggenheim (New York).
44. Own a pair of Jimmy Choos and Christian Louboutins.

FOOD

45. Eat frozen yogurt at Pinkberry at the same location Lauren Conrad frequently visited in the Hills.
46. Have dinner at O Noir (dine in the dark restaurant) in Toronto before Nuit Blanche.
47. Eat a bite of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (a bite won’t kill me).
48. Be a vegetarian for one whole month.
49. Have dinner at the 360 Restaurant on top of the C.N. Tower.

LAST ONE

50. Look back on this list, and even if not completed, still be satisfied and proud of accomplishments.

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Literature VS. Traffic by Luzinterruptus

Imagine stumbling onto a street lit by books, a veritable traffic jam of illuminated manuscripts-- not cars. This is the stuff that lit-lovers' dreams are made of, but for one night, the dream came true. Specialists in temporary public art installations Luzinterruptus took their talents from Madrid to Manhattan, where their plans were foiled and displaced under the Brooklyn Bridge. It was only one night where over eight hundred books graced the streets of New York City, and what a pretty sight that was. Click here for a bigger image.

Luzinterruptus, known for their light installations in public spaces, wanted the urban space conventionally reserved for speed, pollution and noise to be converted to a place of peacefulness, relaxation and coexistence. The site was illuminated by a soft, diffused light that encouraged by-passers to feel comfortable and relaxed, despite the chaos around them.

"And Then There Was Salsa"

Brands need to go above and beyond what is expected in order to get noticed and be remembered by their consumers. This is exactly what Tostitos did with their advert "And There Was Salsa". Tostitos recently teamed up with online video sharing site Vimeo to produce a clip which goes above and beyond what is expected from a viral. In order to get the full experience of this video, you need to view it directly on the Vimeo website. Believe me, it's worth it. [Thanks to Connie Chan of Room Noise for bringing this to my attention.]

Measuring Type: A Typography Experiment

Matthew Robinson and Tom Wrigglesworth compared a selection of the most commonly used typefaces for how economical they are with the amount of ink which they use at the same point size. Large scale renditions of the typefaces were drawn out with ballpoint pens, allowing the remaining ink levels to display the ink efficiency of each typeface. I'm not sure how accurate the results of this experiment are, but by the looks of it, it's no surprise that Impact is the most ink-consuming out of the bunch. If this is true... should we start printing our essays in Garamond? Maybe that will be a more cost-efficient and environmentally friendly option, but more research needs to be done before I personally make the switch from my beloved Times New Roman.

Martinis & shopping splurges.

Life is good. I mean, things must be good if I'm going to start an entry with three bold words like that. I've been happy lately, and really, that's all that matters. I hope everyone is also doing well.

My family is leaving for a trip to Florida this weekend without me and I'm so ridiculously jealous. My parents are mainly house hunting and looking at real estate, so I guess I won't be missing out on too much. On another note, I've been doing way too much shopping lately. I recently bought new Juicy Couture boots, sandals, and purse (Juicy overload?), a Burberry scarf (although that was technically a gift!), Betsey Johnson sunglasses, heels, dresses, and more clothes. My spending habits are getting ridiculous and I can't even blame it on retail therapy anymore. The only thing that justifies my shopping sprees is that 100% of the money I'm spending is mine and not student loans or my parent's; even then, it's getting out of control. Someone needs to hold my credit card hostage for a while until I sort my finances out. How do you stop shopping splurges?! For those of you familiar with the Shopaholic series, do I really need to pull a Becky Bloomwood and freeze my VISA?

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A Tribute to Alexander McQueen

The last collection designed by Alexander McQueen before his death was shown this morning in an invitation-only salon in Paris. McQueen's lasting creations were inspired from Byzantine art and Old Masters paintings to the wood carvings and sculptures of Grinling Gibbons. It is apparent that McQueen went over the top, as usual, and created a grandiose and eloquent collection that will act as his lasting impression in the fashion industry. The show notes ended with the words: "Each piece is unique, as was he." Two days from now, retailers will be invited to purchase a showroom collection consisting of 160 pieces. Ladies, grab your McQueen pieces while you can, because soon they will be rare and prices are most definitely going to skyrocket!

Week of March 1-7, 2010

03/01 - Aaron falls asleep in our "Mapping Media and Cultural Theory" class every week. It's that boring.


03/02 - Worked all day...


03/03 - I bought a Lomography Diana Mini and it finally came in the mail! I'm so excited to use it :) My friend also came over at night and we ordered Chinese food for dinner.


03/04 - Saw Shutter Island after work. It was... okay.


03/05 - I somehow managed to burn my grilled cheese AND my spatula?! I left the stove for two minutes because I was watching MTV Cribs (LOL) and when I came back, this is what happened :( Ooops.

Later that night, my three drunk guy friends convinced me to go "trayboganning/trayboarding" with them (toboganning and snowboarding with cafetaria trays) down a very steep hill. The trayboganning was fine, but once we decided to stand up on the trays, I think we broke/fractured/bruised a thousand bones in our body. I wish I had a picture for this, because I am still in sooo much pain.




03/06 - Went to the "Women's Lifestyle Show" in the morning and then embraced our inner "little boy" and went to the MONSTER JAM show. I don't know what we were thinking, but even with alcohol, we just could not get interested in the monster trucks at all. Not going to lie, I was bored and tired, and I want my $30 back!!! Not to mention the cocktails were $7 each. What a rip. (The monster truck that looked like a puppy was cute though :P)


03/07 - Today was homework/studying/piano day! Boring! Just wanted to show this spread in March's NYLON that I absolutely loooove. I'm in love with everything on the page but it's so unaffordable it's ridiculous. The Chanel cardigan is almost $5,000. Uhh......

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Foreshadowing Corporate Branding: Chanel

UK student Ryan McSorely considered the idea of branding skin and designed a beauty kit concept for high-end fashion label, Chanel. He says, "The kit is to be used at night before sleeping and includes a Cleanser, Toner, and Moisturiser. Additionally, a bonus headband will be included that has a silicone Chanel logo on the underside of the headband that leaves an imprint of the Chanel logo on the skin, which remains visible for a couple hours. People can then clearly see that the owner uses Chanel skincare and not some other brand. Their skin has been branded Chanel... the ultimate fashion accessory, you might say?"
I was first taken back by Ryan's hypothetical concept of skin branding, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that his concept is practically a biting commentary on the status values dominating the current Western culture. Our society is already blindly infatuated and obsessed with brands and logos (I have to admit I am somewhat guilty of this), but this concept of skin branding is foreshadowing the potential of drastic corporate branding methods in the future. Really? What's next? Swarovski crystals in our teeth? Dolce & Gabbana contact lenses? This is definitely a wake up call to consumer consumption.

The Haiti Poster Project

The Haiti Poster Project is a "collaboration of designers and artists from around the world, benefitting victims of the earthquake in Haiti". If this is something you might be interested in, check out the project website! I think this is a great idea and an effective way to raise money for a good cause. The deadline is March 15th, 2010.

Spiral Staircase by Roberto Semprini

The unique spiral staircase above doesn’t ask for any introduction. Designed by Italian designer Roberto Semprini, the amazing three-dimensional staircase appears to be a sculptural piece of art adding to the opulence of any modern home. The spiral staircase takes inspiration from the ergonomic forms of natural rocks smoothed by water. As visually appealing as this is, it also seems nearly impossible to climb. Looks almost like a safety hazard to me.

Week of Feb 22-28, 2010

02/22 - I bought new gladiator heeeels :)


02/23 - I woke up in the morning and felt so so so sick. I had a huge fever, sore throat, and headache, so I called in sick to work. Napped for the rest of the day and my friend Aaron left some Tylenol for me outside my room because I didn't have any meds.


02/24 - I still had a horrible sore throat, but I was Skype-ing with my friends and they said I looked completely well. Haha I don't usually "look" sick, but I was indeed feeling horrid.


02/25 - Still sick. Worked all day. It was pretty miserable.


02/26 - My day wasn't going so well. A bus splashed dirty water on me, I dropped my steeped tea on my boots, and I left all my essentials (Blackberry, iPod, and Macbook charger) at home. After work, I went to the doctor's, was told that I had a high fever and was prescribed antibiotics. At the campus pharmacy, my dad's insurance card was declined so I ended up paying for them myself. I was about to leave when "nice guy" (I don't know his name) turns around...

NG: "I'm going to make your day by buying you chocolate. Do you like Oh Henry's?"
Me: "No.. I'm allergic to peanuts."
NG: "How about mini eggs?"
Me: "Haha you don't have to."
NG: "You look like you're miserable though."
Me: "I'm just sick and I had a rough day but I'll be okay thanks."
NG: "Nah, don't worry about it."

And he bought me a pack of mini eggs. A very nice guy and a simple kind gesture totally made my day. At night, all I did was crash in bed with hot tea, Strepsils, Sex and the City, and NYLON.


02/27 - Went grocery shopping in the morning and after that my productivity went down hill. I had a 6 hour Skype conversation with my friend Livia. Seriously, I don't know what I'd do without this girl.


02/28 - I felt miraculously healed when I woke up in the morning. I swear those were some super magical antibiotics! Got my iced skinny vanille latte, vanilla bean cupcake, and stayed comfy in a big bed watching the Olympic hockey game with my friend. Afterwards I saw Avatar for the first time and I thought it was just okay. Ended the night by watching the closing ceremonies at Crabby Joe's.

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