Off

{via here}

S. Monster and I are hitting the open road this weekend. It's been far too long since my last trip and my restless soul needs some wide open space to roam. 

See you Monday!

{Design Edition} Surf Shack

How flippin' rad awesome is this surf shack owned by Richard Christiansen of the ad agency Chandelier Creative? Available for the exclusive use of their staff, clients and friends consider me jealous....and also looking at potential job opportunities there. 


What? Some people like a good health care benefits, me, I prefer travel benefits. Besides, let's be honest here, anyplace that calls themselves "Awesomeville" is automatically a-okay in my book.  

{Via Here and HonestlyWTF}

{Travel Tuesday} Dublin Edition: The Supper Club Project

Last week S. Monster and I had the good fortune to snag one of the few remaining reservations for Dublin's newest popup venture, The Supper Club Project. 

{Sabek and Wye preparing for the night.
Via here}

Run by the amazingly talented (and uber adorable) chefs  Sandy Sabek and John Wye, the Supper Club Project is an 8 course taster menu held once a month. A labor of love, Sabek and Wye create a night that reaches the highest degree of excellence rarely found here in Dublin. From the attention to detail, to the ambiance, service and, of course, the food, nothing is overlooked. 

{Presentation is everything. Foie Gras with almonds, black fig chutney, pickled celery and baby beets
Via here}

S. Monster and I first stumbled across The Supper Club Project back in May and immediately knew we had to attend again. At €65 per person it's not the cheapest night out and as the date approached we were worried that the second time would never be able to live up to the first. How wonderfully wrong we were. 

{Mmmm....so...good...nom nom nom!}

Glasses of elderflower processo and truffle parmeson popcorn greeted us upon arrival as we mingled (or rather would have mingled were we not scarfing down the popcorn like it was our job) and waited to be seated. With a maximum capacity of only 32 guests seated at one of 2 long wooden tables, the evening was an intimate affair. A welcome change from the usual seclusion you find yourself in at most restaurants, it created a lovely festive atmosphere only further fueled by the BYOB policy (which we most definitely took advantage of). 

{Desert of champions: White Chocolate and Lemon Verbena with parfait, basil and caramelized pine nuts.
It tasted like heaven
via here}

Sabek and Wye, along with their incredible team, put together a new menu that was as outstanding as the last. As someone who was an incredibly picky eater, primarily only eating fried food, cheerios and peanut butter for the first 18 years  of her life, I've come a long way to self confessed foodie. That said, it still speaks volumes of Sabek and Wye's talents that dishes such as Foie Gras and Plaice, when prepared in their magical hands, were so delicious I could not get enough. It was like tasting a rainbow.

{The only dish I managed to photograph before devouring.
The fact that it was the first one of the night is only a minor detail.
Egg Yolk Raviolo with braised ox cheek, shallot, watercress and celeriac puree.}

After our first time I swore that the second time around I would take better pictures of the evening. But with the lovely company, pleasant conversations, delicious food, glasses of bubbly and wine (lots and lots of wine) I didn't stand a chance. I did however manage to take a lot of really questionable photos of halfway eaten dishes and/or empty plates. So at least there's that. 

Chef Sabek and I at the end of the night. Probably should have used a flash...
and not had so much to drink

{For more information check out their website: The Supper Club Project}

Proper subway etiquette in Tokyo:

Via here

Finding your voice

sneak peak of my painting: 
  "The Flighty Temptress, Adventure"

Thank you all so much for the sweet comments and notes of encouragement from my post the other day about facing fears.


Another related issue that I’ve struggled with these past 2 years, has been finding my voice as an artist. As someone whose always known who she was in the academic sense and yet who only recently started developing who I am as an artist, it's been a weirdly wonderful journey of discovery. 


If you're interested, I wrote about my trials, tribulations and triumphant in finding my voice over at Calalita Designs. I've also (finally) included photos of a few paintings - including the very first one I ever did in all of it's unruly wonder. So go take a gander (here) and let me know what you think  

Please stand by: Technical Difficulties

This is a story about how Blogger and Google Reader teamed up to make me look a fool.

The other day drafts of 2 different posts accidentally got published before they were supposed to. They were live for about an hour before I realized what had happened and could delete them. I didn't think much of it at the time until today when I (re)published one of them only to have a friend then email me asking why I had posted 2 identical write ups about the chair Mae I upholstered.

Apparently if you delete a post after it's been live, even if no trace of it shows up on your dashboard or on your blog, Google Reader will still make sure it lives on infinitely.

At least I didn't write about something super embarrassing like the time (read: this morning) I hadn't realized my foot was asleep until I fell on my face after trying to stand up.

Or that time at summer camp when I was 8 and in my haste to go swimming accidentally took my top off before realizing I did not actually have a bathing suit on.

That would have been awkward.

As it stands, for those of you who have Google Reader congrats, you now get to read about my awesome chair twice.

I will, however, save you the hardship of having to reread about a super rad pair of Frye Harlow Campus Booties in charcoal I'm totally crushing on these days.

The End.

{Design crush} Introducing Ms. Mae

Happy Friday! I'm off to the studio but I thought I'd share an introduction of Ms. Mae, one of the first chair's I upcycled and reupholstered completely on my own.

Perfectly imperfect, this sweet gal was almost beyond repair. With a bit of love, and a lot of elbow grease (and potentially some swearing), she’s been given a lovely new lease on life. 

To see more pics of Mae, including her before & after makeover, check out my write up on the process over at Calalita Designs.

xx