this kiss

ok, kids.

i've been thinking a lot about kissing lately...

cause, well, this sister is moving and shaking quite a bit these days....

my last relationship was kiss bliss- from the first smooch- so i'm a bit spoiled.

what if a new first kiss is not to your taste?

can you teach a bad kisser to kiss well? is it worth it?

is a bad first kiss a deal breaker?

is a good kiss a promise of great things to come?

does it matter?

what say you?

 

kisses many

-d

mikoh swimwear

hot damn, these swimsuits are so sexy. makes me want to go to a white sandy beach immediately.
xx
d

umm, completely awesome

"i'm afraid to drink soda because i'm afraid the bubbles will make me float up onto the ceiling"

MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON from Dean Fleischer-Camp on Vimeo.

masquerade

at some point in our adult lives we have all worn a mask. different masks for different people. for some reason as we get older we feel the need to use these masks much more often than we did when we were younger. sometimes the mask is for a protective measure, and sometimes it is only a projective one. 

to some extent, that's why I find children so refreshing. there is no mask.  they are open, honest, and real. they haven't learned the need to hide behind anyone or anything. for my children at school life is a ball but there is no masquerade. 

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us.”
- Charles Dickens

xx

d

satomi kawakita

beautiful rings from Satomi Kawakita.

... i simply could not choose one.
xx

d

designer sofas direct

i am helping my aunt furnish a new apartment, which gave me yet another great excuse to browse on the www for hours on end. 

loved designer sofas direct  dot com.

here's what i'm talking about.

some of my favorites on the site. 

you'll see on his site that the sofas come with all sorts of sizing and configuration options. also you can view all of these in 3-D online:

Lorenzo (love this one!)

Reims - so gorgeous in a library!

Dante

Madera

xx

d

L O V E

 

courtesy of Oh So Beautiful Paper

lovely

hello friends; i do apologise for my long absence, but i started a new job last week (hurrah!) which has left me time poor and with not much head space for lovely inspiration. more on the new job to come soon; all i can tell you is that it is a job IN ADDITION TO my current teaching job - and i love it! since it involves writing.
 
do bare with me, I promise I will be back up to speed soon.

on a side note, i am completely coveting the ad campaign created by JCrew to promote the new movie, The Romantics. i cannot wait to see it, it looks just like my kind of movie! 

i'm a big fan of Katie Holmes, so was thrilled to see her looking fab in these shots. she looks amazing as ever and is perfectly matched with JCrew's cute / chic / preppy style.

Check out the full trailer here: 

How good does it look?!

See the full JCrew shoot here.

xx
d

labor day weekend

hope you all had a happy labor day weekend...
these are just beautiful to share.

When summer gathers up her robes of glory,

And, like a dream, glides away.

- Sarah Helen Whitman

 

 

xx
d

i dig me self some sharpies

dress up your office pen cup with a Stainless Steel Sharpie. this fine-tipped permanent marker features a stainless steel barrel with a laser-etched Sharpie logo, a replaceable ink cartridge, and a matching cap.

but...
drumroll please...

of all the "magical" products unveiled this year, the Sharpie Liquid Pencil might just deserve the praise if it lives up to its claims. The unique new writing tool uses liquid graphite to offer a writing experience similar to a pen, yet still allows for erasing mistakes. What's more, it becomes permanent like a Sharpie marker after about three days, making it a potential replacement for not two but three current inhabitants of your desktop pen cup.

you HAVE to love sharpie.


xx
d

all about him

when in need of giving your man a present (any man in your life for that matter) you may want to consider these...

classically styled, these UrbanEars Plattan Headphones are the next audio/fashion accessory. the Plattan's over-the ear design offers passive isolation and more room for larger, fuller-sounding drivers, while an in-line mic and single button lets you answer and end calls without the need to look at the phone. available in seven different colors, so you're sure to find one that will coordinate with your favorite ensemble.

the iPhone 4 may very well be the best camera phone ever made, but even it can't overcome the physical limitations of its built-in lens. or can it? Camera Phone Lenses attach to it or any other camera-equipped phone via an included magnetic ring, giving you wide angle/macro or fisheye capabilities that go well beyond your average fixed lens. your DSLR will be jealous.

what's hand-numbered, limited to just 100 units, and comes in a boxed set? nope, it's not the latest high-end blu-ray release — its Rugby Limited Edition Selvedge Jeans. made from selvedge denim sourced from the Cone Denim White Oak Plant in Greensboro, NC, these vintage slim fit jeans arrive in an ultra-dark indigo-washed hue, and feature a belted waist, button fly, five pockets, and a striped silk twill back patch that plays off the included narrow striped tie. expensive, yes, but also exclusive in a way that most $200 and up denim isn't. besides they are made from NORTH CAROLINA denim, that all alone is good enough. 

for the manly men...

ever wish you could roll-your-own Swiss Army knife, carrying just what you need when you need it? meet the Switch Modular Pocket Knife. born from the hivemind of quirky, the Switch includes two exterior body covers, two slotted caps to hold everything together, three interior axles that range from small (2-6 tools) to large (7-13 tools), and 18 tool attachments, including screwdrivers, a bottle opener, a saw, various blades, a flashlight, and even a 1GB USB memory stick -- making it one of the most versatile and most geeky multi-tools you can buy. most probably i wouldn't know what to do with that many tools, let alone what each one is meant for... yet i never underestimate the usefulness of having your own pocket knife handy... i carry my own, much smaller, pink version of a pocket knife.


good shopping,


xx
d


ps: special thanks to uncrate

to the ordinary days

Normal day,

let me be aware of the treasure you are.

Let me learn from you,

love you,

bless you before you depart.

Let me not pass you by

in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow.

Let me hold you while I may,

for it may not always be so.

One day I shall dig my nails into the earth,

or bury my face in the pillow,

or stretch myself taut,

or raise my hands to the sky and want,

more than all the world, your return.

~Mary Jean Iron

xx

-d

...

i apologize...
blogger and i were having some issues.
however, after some time (a long time) we have managed to reconcile our differences and are back on good terms.
posts ahead, you'll find the pretty things and the cool gadgets that have kept me busy since i wrote last.
xx
d

behind the seams [not dreams] of inception

 

this past week, i finally stopped being the last person on earth who hadn’t seen Inception, and saw a friday afternoon show with friends; relieved that i can finally join in on conversations about things like tokens and concepts like “dreaming within a dream” without a quizzical look on my face. the movie was so good and utterly absorbing.  if you haven’t seen it yet, i completely recommend it. 

but leaving the movie theater, i had one primary thought in my head and it wasn’t dream related.  it was, “wow, the suit tailoring in this movie was impeccable.  Joseph Gordon-Levitt and the other men in this movie have some hot looks.”  unfortunately, since i was with straight, non-metrosexual men, this was not a topic they were interested in discussing (particularly my thoughts about the hotness of JGL’s looks as he bounded around in the hotel.)  i loved how each male character in the movie had a sharply defined look that expressed their individual personalities, although all of them wore suits. after the jump, check out where you can get their suits, and some more details about their looks. 

Saito (Ken Watanabe) and Fischer (Cillian Murphy) being businessmen, had the most “Wall Street” look of the men, with Fischer’s double-breasted navy pinstripe and Saito’s cool, sophisticated palette of silver grays.  Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) had a less corporate look and more 20′s gangster look, with boxier shoulders and a less tapered body.  but the guy whose looks stole the show was Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), with his sharply tailored vests, sans -suit-jacket, which was a perfect, modern dapper look for the youngest actor in the movie.  i liked how the costume designer, Jeffrey Kurland, played with the differences in texture and pattern, with the solid silks of the vests against the contrasting stripes and windowpane patterns of his button downs.  Jeffrey also gave him some of the most fashion-forward suit colors, like this sandy colored caramel color below, which even beautifully offsets the black and white parquet floor of the hotel.  this may be strange coming from a girl, but how beautiful are those camel colored shoes he is wearing!

after doing some google research, i found that one of my favorite men’s magazines, Esquire, has the details on where the suits came from, courtesy of its excellent Style Blog. unfortunately, the bad news is that you can’t purchase the suits anywhere, as they were all custom designed by Jeffrey Kurland, who bought and found all of the fabrics himself.  he used his custom tailor, Dennis Kim, and custom shirtmaker, Anto of Beverly Hills to make all of the looks.  i liked that his choice of costumes and suits also backed up the premise that the movie took place in the future, yet the viewer couldn’t exactly pinpoint when and how far.  the suits wore by the men weren’t indicative of a particular era or time period in fashion, which was a goal of Kurland, who stated that he tried to create a “corporate atmosphere that’s futuristic, but that you could not date.”  my hope is that along with the concept of dream-sharing, that the future also holds some serious haberdashery for women–isn’t it about time that this was invented already?

sources:  1, 2, 3

happy sunday!

xx

d

  

anatomy of love

(click on the image to enlarge)

xx
-d

food for thought

another school year came to an end and one more is about to start… which, got the wheels in my head spinning…

the world we live in is complicated enough… yet every day, i get the privilege of walking into a classroom full of twelve year olds eager to learn, impatient to get out into the jungle we call our world. just to prove that they too can be not just great, but amazing. HOPES, DREAMS… we call them.  but for my kids it far more than just that… it is a plausible REALITY.

so…  if i’ve learned anything this past year is that we can never let the chaos and injustice make us so blind with anger that we become part of the problem.  understanding, kindness, love and compassion are the only true revolutionary ideas, when we compromise those, we become what we despise and we loose our humanity.  the world may view a teacher’s legacy as that of plain knowledge, but i’ve come to know that my kids are my true legacy and for that i will be thankful for every day.  

cheers for the upcoming school year. onto a new beginning and more lessons to be learned. 

xx

-d

spin pins

i have mentioned before how i’m easily influenced, however, when it comes to actually purchasing something it's a lot harder for me to part with my hard earned cash.  thankfully the internet allows me to be as neurotic as possible and i can spend countless hours reading reviews, looking up how-to video's and the like until i feel that yes this just may be worth my while. i had been hearing about Goody's new Simple Styles offering and especially these 'Spin Pins', i really, really didn't think they would work as i have been duped before by hair accessory companies. the premise is simple, throw your hair in a loose bun and then twist these puppies in, to remove twist the opposite direction. i know what you are thinking, 'i can do that with bobby pins or a hair elastic', well the kicker here is the pins actually stay in your hair.  go figure?  really did it take hair accessory technology this long to invent this? all the way to the 21st century? i am speechless.  i am both elated and pissed. i am elated because it's so easy to throw my hair up in a decent hair-do for work, and pissed that my hair has had to endure all these years without my new beloved Spin Pins. well, i guess as the adage goes, better late than never. do you have any hair accessory secrets you want to share?

xx

d

who's got board shorts?

've got nothing against the lately-set-in-style, short, short board shorts guys are wearing these days, but why settle for the less masculine choice when you can set sail for style in the Giant Gingham Board Short ($55).  eschewing the typical floral print or solid color scheme for a great oversized blue gingham print, these shorts paired with a plain tee and boat shoes can give any guy a maximum effect.

xx

d

diacarta

looking for a more elegant way to plan your days than the iPhone's built-in calendar app?  give Diacarta ($2) a try.  this more-than-chic planing tool offers two 12-hour periods — AM and PM — for each day, users drag-and-drop from a library of more than 50 graphic icons on to screen, and move it around the edges of the central clock to associate it with a particular time.  simple, elegant, and well-designed, it's well worth the two bucks even if your day planning consists of nothing but "grocery shopping",  "pilates class," and "watching your favorite TV show."

xx

d

perfectly pretty

runway inspiration from marc jacobs, nyc.

have absolutely fallen for the polka dots, pretty pastels, iridescent paillettes, shiny lamé, and embroidered lace flowers of marc jacobs' resort 2011 collection, undeniably stylish and perfectly pretty, perfect for stargazing on a midsummer's night. . .

xx
d

desire me badly

HTC EVO 4G — though i love my phone dearly, it may be time for us to part ways.  its battery life is dwindling and the software is lagging like an old computer.  i’d upgrade to an iPhone 4, but not when it’s got more issues than National Geographic. the love affair with Apple might be ending, but a greater one may be just beginning. the HTC EVO 4G phone, available on the Sprint network (NEXTEL network in Mexico) is the first ever 4G phone and looks absolutely amazing.  the display is so vivid that it can actually stream HD video, it’s got two cameras, it can turn into a freaking mobile hotspot, and it actually has a kickstand for easier media viewing! why take a step backward with the iPhone 4 when you can enjoy 4G speeds on a superior phone? 

xx

d

time does not bring relief...

 

 don't read into this,

but i found one of my favorite sonnets while cleaning out school year stuff:

Sonnet II

TIME does not bring relief; you all have lied
Who told me time would ease me of my pain!
I miss him in the weeping of the rain;
I want him at the shrinking of the tide;
The old snows melt from every mountain-side,	5
And last year’s leaves are smoke in every lane;
But last year’s bitter loving must remain
Heaped on my heart, and my old thoughts abide!
There are a hundred places where I fear
To go,—so with his memory they brim!	10
And entering with relief some quiet place
Where never fell his foot or shone his face
I say, “There is no memory of him here!”
And so stand stricken, so remembering him!

Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950).
Renascence and Other Poems. 1917.

matisse: radical invention 1913 -1917

a couple of days ago, many had the pleasure of attending the preview for the Matisse: Radical Invention, 1913-1917 exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art and were blown away.  the exhibition is the same one that was on view at The Art Institute of Chicago this year and is the result of a five year collaboration between the two museums.   if my memory serves me right and i am not butchering the teachings of mrs. Nina Eugenia Serebrennikov this period at the beginning of Henri Matisse's career is thought to be one of the most significant chapters in his evolution as an artist,  he was influenced by Paul Cezanne and later the cubist painters including Picasso.  my favorite works are those he painted during his travels to Morocco (pictured above)  including Zorah in Yellow from 1912.  the colors of teal green, blue and orange were especially inspiring.  according to the NYTimes, the absolute highlight of the preview was that Matisse's grandson, Paul Matisse, was on hand for the opening and made a few remarks.  can you imagine being related to Henri Matisse?!  

the exhibition opens July 18 and runs through October 11, 2010.  timed tickets are required so sign up soon!  i can already tell this is going to be a very popular exhibition! i hate myself for not living in the big apple.

Ars Longa, Vita Brevis Est

The EXHIBITION LAB Exhibition

july

dear july,

my heart melts every time i meet up with your sizzling hot days and patriotic grandeur.  

if you were a color, you would be the most brilliant of all reds.

stars and stripes.  

fireworks and fireflies.

sweet summer sunsets. 

you're as classic as red lipstick and swirling lollipops.

 as pretty as pearls.

and boast an elegance all your own. 

perhaps it's your quiet individuality that gets me every time.

there is no other month like you.

you've given me some of the best summers of my life.

thanks for being such such a wonderful month,

-d