doing a little victory dance.

I think I just heard what is by far the best piece of work-related news when I came into the office today. Much of the design work I've done here in the past year have not really seen the light of day. They may make it to the last round but clients never seem to choose my work, even if they're sometimes the designs that we as a company recommend they adopt. Work has to go through so many corporate hoops that it takes months to have a single logo chosen and approved. That's just the way it is.

I was my usual 5 minutes late. So after plopping my bag in the corner and taking off my cardigan, I quickly settled into my chair, typed in my network password to log onto my computer and did the first thing I do each morning. I checked my mail. There shone a single new message sent at 6:53 pm the night before, and the subject line read "Good meeting!"

Excited, I clicked to open the email that had come from one of my bosses who had been at a client's office yesterday to present a visual identity system (aka what we at Landor call a House Style) that I had worked on. They apparently had an unusually successful meeting (the client required no changes at all!) and the CEO had signed off on the design pretty quickly. So now it's time to create the guidelines for the system and get it through implementation. I will FINALLY have something that will actually live in the real world! :) Granted, this process will take another few months, and the company probably won't be able to implement the system and roll out designs until maybe early or mid-2011(?) but whatever, I'm happy :D In a year, I will be able to see the fruits of my labor at branches of this company across the city, and all the work will have been worth it. :) I'm excited!

bike snob.

I found this book as I was reading through Cool Hunting and I am putting it on my wish list! It seems like the perfect primer for my foray into urban cycling. It's humorous and unpretentious with a fresh mix of historical nuggets, cycling-disaster anecdotes and straightforward bike safety information. But the 2-color line illustrations by Christopher Koelle are really what sealed the deal for me. I wouldn't be able to resist buying this book even just for the illustrations if I had seen this at a store.


Bike Snob cover


I will probably find myself ordering this online from Chronicle Books tonight when I'm sitting at my desk back home. They have a 20% discount + free shipping, which puts the original price of $16.95 at $13.56! Granted it's a small book at 5" x 7" but it's got a hardcover. I'd say that's not bad, not bad at all.

my linus dutchi!

I finally bought my bike last weekend! It's soooo european retro chic :) I love it! It's even got its own little bell. :)

Linus Dutchi Single-Speed
I'm now just waiting for my Bern Watts helmet to arrive in the mail. It's equally cute! I can't wait to put it on and ride my bike through Central Park. It reminds me of those helmets Italian girls wear when they're riding down the streets in Vespas although it's really a skate helmet. They didn't have the glossy white helmet in my size so I had to order it online. My head is apparently a men's size medium! I always knew I had a big head, I'm just thankful I'm not a men's XL!


Bern Watts Summer EPS Helmet
I hope my helmet comes this weekend because I already told Henry I'd go biking with him! I did order a basket to put on my handlebars too, and according to UPS tracking it should arrive tomorrow, so I can start installing it when I get home from work. Yey! I will post another picture when I've got that basket on there.

eames rocking chair

I love the Eames rocking chair. I just never thought it would make such a cool-looking tattoo! :)

Photo taken from Ethan Pines' website

first weekend of spring!

It's the first weekend of spring and we're heading over to Central Park for a picnic tomorrow! I'm excited beyond belief. I'm excited by the prospect of getting to wear shorts, a skirt or a dress again without having to pull on tights or stockings underneath. I'm excited to finally put my aviators to good use under the warm rays of the sun. And I'm excited to go buy a bike! Okay, so that last one might not happen this weekend, but I will get around to doing that hopefully before April is over. I'm actually very tempted to just get one from Republic Bikes online, but I should do my research and go around the different bike stores. I should also ask where people store their bicycles in our building. I've never seen anyone bring one in yet. Hmm...

all i want for spring

I am itching to go shopping, but I don't have the moolah to go buy all the things I want to right now. Luckily for me, my mom is willing to sponsor the purchase of the trench coat! So now I only have to worry about all the other items on my list. It's still going to be quite a big drain on my account. I probably won't get around to buying everything, but I plan on getting at least one of them!

Oh, and there's one more thing I need to get this spring too! I am so envious of Henry who keeps talking about riding his bike around on the weekends. I will get myself a euro-style bike one of these days! :D Here's one from Republic Bikes that you actually customize (choose colors for all the different parts) and they'll send it over to you all built. :) It's like Nike iD for bikes! I love it!

Update: I bought the Club Monaco trenchcoat two weekends ago and I've already worn it a couple of times since then! Yey for spring! It's gorgeous out this week.

my new living room

Yey! :) I finally bought some rug tiles from CB2 (at $13.95 each) to complete my living room! I still want to add more frames and pretty pictures to my wall but I'm feeling really happy with how my living room turned out. All the furniture's from IKEA so the total cost for everything in this picture stands at around $550. That includes the pillows, the frame, the vase, and even the white cabinet in the dark hallway. Not too bad. :)

i love yellow and i love stripes!

things are going my way.

Little reasons for happiness (however shallow they may be) are popping up here and there these days and I've been catching myself smiling out of the blue because of them.

First, I've got some money rolling in, and who says no to money? Last December, I completely forgot to change my mailing address on my employee profile so my last paycheck for the year got sent to my old apartment. I put in a request to have the check reissued and I finally got the new check yesterday! Ka-ching! More money in the bank always makes me happy. :) When I catch the shopping bug again at least I'll have a little more padding. *naughty smile* I'm not even sure what I want to buy as I've already purchased two pairs of metallic shoes in the past 2 weeks. I don't know what the deal with the metallic streak is, but I just couldn't pass them up. I can't wait for spring (or at least a sunny winter day when all the slush from the recent snow days melts away) to come so I can wear them. :D Also, I just got back a cashier's check I issued as a move-in insurance deposit for my apartment a few days ago. I'd forgotten about it so it was a nice surprise. Double ka-ching!

Second, we just got out of a meeting with some clients and they loved all the work we presented them! And it seems my design concept is going to make it to the next round :) Oh yeah! *fist pump* Hahaha :) Little victories like these make work that much more satisfying. As we always say here in our cube, "All a designer wants is to be loved and understood." A little appreciation goes a long long way.

Third, because my apartment finally feels like a home with all the IKEA furniture finally built! Woohoo :) Now if I can only go out and finish purchasing the pots and pans so I can start cooking! I did use my newly purchased microwave for the first time two nights ago though. I can already imagine myself using it for some buttery popcorn on Netflix movie nights!

Fourth, just because I'm in New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made, there's nothing you can't do here. Wahahaha, I'm actually a bit sick of that song now, but yeah, I just love it here and now I can honestly say that I'm really glad I decided to stay. :)

settling in (back in new york)

It's been two weeks since I got back from my little vacation back home. These two weeks have been strange in that they feel long and yet short. So much has happened in so little time; it feels a bit disorienting. If you think about it, 2 weeks is a relatively short time but it feels like forever since I took my flight out of Manila. So much has changed.

Since getting back I've moved my stuff out of storage and into my new apartment (and not without some trouble! Boy, did I have to whip out persuasion skills I didn't know I had just to get my boxes of clothes through the door.) gone to IKEA to buy 4 pallets worth of furniture (and spending $2000!) and built about half of that furniture. The rest of them are still in boxes leaning against the living room wall. I'm excited to finally get everything up and ready but it's proving to be much more difficult than expected. My room is looking more and more like a room now though. I can't wait to finally have pictures of it when it's all complete!

weekend at cornell university

So my sister and I visited our brother at Cornell University up in Ithaca this past weekend. It took a 5-hour and 30-minute bus ride to get there, and it was not a pleasant or particularly scenic ride, but it was all worth it as soon as we got off the bus, breathed in the fresh air and hugged our brother who met us at the bus stop in Collegetown. We only really had maybe 27 hours in Ithaca, and we spent maybe 10 hours of that sleeping and wasting away Sunday morning because we were so pooped. I wish I could have taken more pictures, gone around and really enjoyed the beauty of the campus, but for now I guess these random pictures will have to do. We'll be back in May for shoti's graduation anyway, so I can take all the photos I want then!


Duffield Hall at Cornell University (Below)