Bottled Sky

I was at the supermarket with some friends the other week, when we came across these handy reusable shopping bags shaped like various produce. We oohed at the chubby little carrots and aahed at the squish-worthy watermelons. Then we saw the cherries.

That, my friends, is what happens when designers get lazy. I can almost picture it:

Hey, how do you feel about using PANTONE 12-0643 for the color of the lemon? Or should we just stick with 13-0752? — Monday

I checked with the bag supplier, and we’re good to go on the irregular shape for the carrot. — Tuesday

I just e-mailed you the revisions for the dragonfruit design. The seed spacing wasn’t quite right on the first version. — Wednesday

Make sure that the seeds are not too evenly sized. We want the watermelon to look somewhat realistic. — Thursday

Ah, fuck it. Just slap some damn cherries on it and call it a day. Anyone up for a drink later? — Friday

Last December my parents flew in for a two-week visit, and I got to spend Christmas with them for the first time since I moved to Singapore. We did the tourist thing for a couple of days, which is just another way of saying that we barely managed to squeeze in a couple of museum visits in between marathon shopping sessions.

You guys, my folks are adorable! I snapped this photo on our way to the MINT Museum of Toys, a thin slice of a building that houses thousands of — you guessed it — vintage toys. The admission price was on the steep side at S$15, but I thought it was worth it to see all the quirky childhood memorabilia. Toys were so much more charming in decades past. Now it’s all factory-perfect plastic and high-tech gadgetry.

Continue reading MINT Museum of Toys »

The average office desk can hold all kinds of strange and awesome things. Unfortunately for those reading this post, mine is of the tamer variety. Considering that these are the more interesting items on my desk, just imagine how mundane the rest of its contents are.

Oh, Crap. I stuck a random cow-shaped clip on top of my computer, and one of my brilliant coworkers took time out of his busy schedule to complete the scene with a heaping pile of poo that he fashioned out of Blu-Tack. He even used a marker to give it a surprisingly realistic greenish brown tint. Nice.

Continue reading Stuff on My Desk »

People should try not to make any important decisions when they’ve just woken up. That includes deciding what to wear to work, as shown by this tweet from last year:

This wardrobe workout is turning out to have more benefits that I initially thought. Not only am I making better use of the wardrobe I already have, but I have also stopped showing up to work with day-glo underwear shining through light-colored clothes. Woot!

Here’s what I wore for week two of my little experiment:

Military Monday. I think that cardigan is so cute it deserves a salute.

• Blue military-inspired cardigan – Bysi
• Gray henley camisole – Uniqlo
• Black skinny jeans – Freego
• Black round-toe slingbacks – Charles & Keith
• Black bow hairband – Montip

Continue reading Wardrobe Workout: Week 2 »

I was walking to the train station with my colleague Jacq after work last week when she shared that she had only five pairs of shoes. FIVE. PAIRS. OF. SHOES. The shoe fiend in me was stunned. After picking up my jaw from the pavement and confirming several times that I had not misheard her — “Five, Jacq? Really? Really?!” — I jumped right into convincing her to expand her footwear collection. She has since bought a new pair of heels and is now thinking of buying more. I am that good.

As I walked the same route with Christina, another work buddy, a few days later, I told her about Jacq’s impressive resistance to shoe lust. She reacted with comically familiar shock and disbelief — “Five? Really? Really?!”

It led us to ponder, if we had to give up all but five pairs of our beloved shoes, which would we pick? (Specialized footwear for athletic or artistic activities don’t count. I also have to note that Singapore is a tropical country so we don’t need to worry about dressing for winter.) It was a tough call, but I managed to narrow down my choices to these final five:

Black perforated suede ankle-wrap sandals, Rubi. Laid-back without being sloppy, these are the most comfortable sandals I have ever owned.

Continue reading Final Five: Shoes »