Ack! I love them!

The brown baby bear hat my mom made me. She's on a roll. She's made 7 hats since I locked her away with her needles and yarn. I'm encouraging her to sell them. But not these ones, these are mine! Emily has put her order in for a grey bear hat, I think Mom needs to do a panda or two.

The Dangers of Snow

Some people flipped out during the Snowbliteration and bought a month's worth of milk, bread, and meat. Other people lost power; still others got cabin fever. I shopped online.

Vineyard Vines

Lilly Pulitzer

Ann Taylor Loft

Lilly Pulitzer

I should add...

we were in the garage and Sally hates the garage. She hates anything that comes from above and the garage door makes her go nuts. So do the new garbage trucks with their mechanical arm. Hot air balloons, blimps, helium filled balloons, she is afraid of all that stuff.
The shots in the previous post were impromptu ones, and really quite bad, so I photoshopped them, and I think the colour is wonky, and one corner of the sheet is darker than the others. But thank you for your comments. I should have opened the garage door and let the natural light in but I didn't want my neighbour to see us. Really, I didn't want Linus to run across the road to the neighbour's house. He did it once that morning, he doesn't look when he bolts across the road and I worry he'll get hit. He found Rambo's old dog bed at the side of their house, and stood there sniffing it so I was able to grab him and drag him back home. The last time he ran across he ended up in their pond, he didn't smell so good after that.

Pondering "orange"

Lately rather unremarkable but easy to brew teas have filled my cup, mostly because the bulk of my tea drinking now occurs at work. Some examples:

Cheap "dong ding" ($7/600g)
CNNP fu lu shou xi brick from c. 2006 ($40/300g)
Lu Yang Chun (free!)
"Long Jing" (free!)
Korean Persimmon Leaf Tea (free!)
Bei Dou Yi Hou Fannings ($? The cost escapes me.)

My "drinking" young pu'er has been a 2007 Six Famous Tea Mountain Factory approximant of the famous Hong Yin, or perhaps better understood as an homage to the famous cake.

2007
2007 resulted in some very strange pu'er tea productions. From the many Haiwan productions that tasted like green tea to the highly varying products released by Xiaguan, Menghai, and Mengku, even the bad teas cost twice what they should have, yet all big factory productions seemed to sell out shortly after release.

Why this cake?
Six Famous Tea Mountain, whose cakes post-2005 have disappointed me, produced this series of Red, Blue, and Green Label cakes, each one very different in compression. Our local Chinatown ginseng and Chinese products warehouse stocked them. They sell for approximately $11-$14 a piece, which means they probably cost next to nothing (For comparison: Mengku cakes at this store cost thrice what you get them for from Yunnan Sourcing).

I chose the Red Label (Hong Yin) cake hoping to taste the best of the three. Presumably this cake was stored for 2 years in Hong Kong before I purchased it, in dry storage conditions, as the leaves are still bright green and the wrapper shows minimal staining.

Orangeness
The topic (and I have one) is the “orangeness” of a young cake. Orange on the leaves, dark orange liquor, and the smells and tastes that accompany it.

Hobbes and other bloggers associate dark orange brews with excessive oxidation aimed at making maocha palatable immediately. Some feel this process ultimately harms the ageability of the cake. Truthfully, sometimes a brew oxidizes into orange while sitting in the pitcher or cup, and leaves left wet for hours between infusions often oxidize as well.

Teas that are usually orange when young have included Dehong "wild" tea and lower grade Xiaguan productions such as Bao Yan branded teas. I have tasted these teas with some age, and they aged well and pleasantly.


I have nearly finished off the entire cake, and here are some observations and some questions:

Its leaves appear beautifully intact after brewing. They don't show much obvious signs of poor processing—brown or red edges or veins, e.g.—yet the tea usually brews orange. The tea can overbrew, but not easily, and the flavors are monotonous but pleasant in their predictability brew-to-brew: florals, slight biscuity flavor, some bitterness, not much aftertaste, but not sour. It smells of grain and fertile soil.

Are two years in Hong Kong enough to produce some orange color? At what age does a darker orange tinge become an expected marker of age? Under what storage conditions?

These questions have been bouncing around in my head. I don’t have enough experience with pubescent pu’er to make a judgment.

I’ll try to update this with photos later.

DIY backdrop frame

I've been seeing some really neat backdrops made of fabric, just regular fabric, nothing fancy. And I found a few inexpensive portable backdrop frames but of course, none of them are available locally. So I did a little googling and found the instructions to make one out of PVC piping for under $30.Yesterday, we picked up the PVC and by 10 am we had made the frame with an additional bar across the middle. It comes apart and can easily be packed up. Super light, super cheap. I quickly tossed my duvet cover over the rack, added a few clamps and my trusty big red dog. And voila...

You're My Obsession

Stella McCartney Fall RTW 2008
Wooden Wedge Pumps

I wanted these shoes the moment I saw them in February 2008.
I adored the juxtaposition between the patent, wood, and metal.
A heel that was out-of-this world dramatic.
The architectural qualities of this shoe are perfect. From
the way in which the wooden wedge is carved, the height
of the heel (130 mm!), to the inclusion of the metal
piece on the back of the heel I loved how this shoe
was both ultramodern and ethereal.

Obtaining them was another story.
I searched high and low from Net-A-Porter to Neiman Marcus to
Neiman Marcus Last Call to find these in my size.
I got lucky enough last November on Yoox to get the last pair
from their Italian warehouse in a size 39!
I'm still just as in love with them as I was nearly two years ago.

Drunken Beauty

I want you to know that I washed my hair today, and IT WAS AWESOME.

I might just need to walk around with frizzed out hair, faded color and dry scalp because I looove getting my skull all lathered up. I can't help it, it's just who I am.

Okay, onto the face.

I was just reading a some helpful beauty hints in Self Magazine. Apparently if you go out and get drunk, your eyes are going to look puffy the next day. (You are also going to smell really bad and be a real bitch to hang out with...)

Their advice...after you tie one on, stagger to the kitchen and drink LOTS of water., you might puke it up, but keep hydrating until you can't stand it anymore. When you've finished chugging agua, crawl up to the bathroom and remove your eye makeup thoroughly. If you are still able to stand, apply a moisturizing eye cream. Follow this advice and no one will be able to tell you have a drinking problem the next day.

Yeah right.

Let's have a show of hands. How many of you drink lots of water, remove all your makeup and moisturize your eyes when you're sober? If you do...BRAVO. I'll bet you look like a supermodel, cook healthy meals for your family every night and run 5 miles every morning. You're so perfect that you've never drank a whole bottle of Southern Comfort and then passed out in the bushes in front of Denny's.

But I digress.

That concludes Beauty Week here at Caffeine Court.

Who knows what next week holds. I'm always open to suggestions...

Have a beautiful weekend.

whippah...

That's the sound of my whip!

I'm shooting the B twins next week. So excited! Julie and I have been looking at cute hats for them. I was moaning about how I wish I knew someone that could knit and my mom pipes up and says she could. Go figure. I knew she'd made a few scarves. So we jumped on her. She took her knitting things up to Grandpa's where she's staying until she can go back to work. I picked up some yarn and a book of cute knit hats and dropped them off for her. I've got my own little Asian sweat shop! She's already made one hat! Here is baby bear modeling it for me. I attached one of Emily's felt flower clips to the hat. I've been looking all over for damask print fabric to use as a backdrop and couldn't find a thing. Yesterday I found this duvet cover and it's exactly what I was looking for! And I like the colour! I made a couple of cards, both using embossing resist.

I did a bit of scrapbooking too, got 3 pages done.

Good thing I did the housework yesterday! All that running around was just about worth missing the Young and the Restless. Tomorrow I will put together my backdrop frame and then look out!

It sounded good.

And Karen Russell addressed me in her blog...ME! I love Karen...Yup, that's me Wheelbarrow Thief.

Piece Together

Proenza Schouler Spring/Summer 2010

Lily Allen, Polish Visa, Gwen Stefani
German Students & Chloé Advertisement

Edie Sedgwick, Girl from Lookbook.nu,
Jessica Stam, & Nico.

My inspiration as of late has been very diverse, from models and designer collections to 1960s Warhol icons, fashion bloggers, and quirky singers.

And the Winner is...

Jenn! Now you won't need to find a pair of mittens for yourself!

"..Curiouser and Curiouser." -- Alice (Alice in Wonderland, 1951)

I AM (STILL) SO IN THE MOOD FOR ALICE IN WONDERLAND. (:

I just bought a grass carpet, yayyy! I've wanted this one for so long, and I finally have time to look for it, found it, and have it :) --err, well some peoples were like "what's this? you grow grass in your bedroom???!" oh yes I'm a lil bit extreme, but not that way I guess -___- hahaha.

♥♥♥

So I decided to took some photos in my spare time --and I just realized that I enjoy playing dress-up so much that I took SO MANY photos -____- I remember my white tights --which is so Alice--, plus my new grass, and anyyy dress with anyyy shoes, well, here we go. Alice in Wonderland fanatic fan! haha :) Oh, and I edited them in different effects. This time it was taken by my 10 years old brother, haha.

..and, self- potrait :p


blur. :(

♥♥♥

Humm.. I was trying to make some kind of magical effect in this photo, but it's now kinda reminds me of Brick by Boring Brick - Paramore music video, haha. And wondering why my left arm's glowing! (:

Taken by Canon 350 D, edited with Adobe Photoshop CS 2 + lil bit photoscape, in my room :)

♥♥♥

Hmm, I'm planning to dye my hair, purple, blue, red, or fuschia.

That photo above was taken when I was in junior high, tapi harus buru-buru dicat item lagi karena syuting :( Jadi mumpung ga syuting, saya kangen warnain rambut lagik. (: and yes, I know what you're thinkin now. Hayley is SUPER cool with red hair, everyone with red hair is ALWAYS cool :D

♥♥♥

And someone on Lookbook.nu told me that one of my photos on lookbook look like Emily Skins. Since I haven't watch SKINS yet (aaaahh pengenn bangettt T T, katanya @geeky_unee, Skins itu kayak Gossip Girl versi British dan lebih bagus ya?), so I'm googling it. Here's some google result about Emily Skins, or as known as the twin:

Me look like her? no? Haha, whatever. She's kinda cute, and see? red hair rules. (:

Sometimes I don't like being right.

I knew we were not lucky enough to actually have spring yet. I also thought that water-wise, we NEED more snow. And so when Kerry woke me up this morning and said it was snowing, I think I said "Yay!" and went back to sleep. It's not a huge dump, no shovelling required, and it will probably be gone in a few hours, and I'm not planning on driving today so it's all good.

Here's a re-cap of the last week's weather, in pictures of course! And Linus's help. Sally decided she wanted none of this funky weather crap.Feb. 18th. Sunny, warm, maybe 9 degrees. The grass that Linus hasn't pulled up is greenish. We spend a bit more time outside throwing the ball.Feb. 23rd. Fog, frost, -4 degrees. Cold, damp, dismal, but wait, the sun is shining, it's burning off the fog, and it did shine for most of the day! But it was still darn cold.Feb. 24th. Snow, wet, but not as cold, 0 degrees. Makes a great hiding spot for the poop I didn't pick up yesterday, oh, wait, I did, because it was frozen and picking up Poopsicles is what I live to do.

We have this very old, just for decoration wooden ladder that I use in the garden as a trellis, it's leaning against the deck right now. For some reason, this guy had a brain fart and decided this was the way to get up onto the deck. He stood like that for the longest time, trying to figure out what to do. Ah...the life of a SAHM. (It does count, even if they are dogs.)

In other news...Kerry and I have been discussing the sad state of our weights. Slowly rising, causing our clothing to become ill fitting, we have decided to eat better, more fruits and veggies, and to move a bit more with evening walks. Nothing earth shattering, but a step in the right direction. Besides as Kerry put it "We need to get our Disney legs."

DON'T lather, rinse, repeat...

I just gave the bathroom the Tilex tootbrush treatment, and I'm a bit loopy, so bear with me.

Today we are going to turn our attention to hair care.

Ever since I was a teenager I have washed my hair every day. Every once in awhile I would skip a day, but for the most part I felt weird if I didn't lather up each morning.

Last week I went to a beauty supply store to buy a dandruff shampoo for color treated hair and I was approached by the store owner. She was quite the inquisitive lady. When I told her what I was looking for she requested that I allow her to do a full scalp and hair examination.

She lifted my hair and dug through the roots. It was a bit unnerving, but after her evaluation she asked me how often I wash. When I told her she exclaimed, "THAT is your problem! You are drying out your scalp and hair with all your scrubbing and blow drying. You CANNOT wash your hair every day! You should wash it at the most twice a week."

Shocking, but very compelling. It made sense. She put the dandruff shampoo back on the shelf and handed me a chemical free scalp and hair leave on conditioner. She told me to massage my scalp every morning, then take a shower, RINSE my hair with clear water and then apply the leave on conditioner. Once or twice a week I can shampoo.

I agreed to try it and report back in a month with my results.

When I returned home I did some Googling and came up with some interesting information. Washing your hair once a week is actually CHIC! Who knew?

Check out this article from the New York Times..."Of Course I Washed My Hair Last Year (I’m Almost Certain)".

A little oil is good for your hair and scalp.

Fascinating.

So, did you know about this? How often do you wash your hair?

I'm so glad I let that lady pick at my scalp like a monkey.

I think she changed my life.

RIP Daddy, and I don't mean my DAD.

http://ow.ly/19tG0

We watch Cesar, we wish we could be more like him. Seeing Daddy and Junior help Cesar is always a highlight. I will miss him.

Apartment Living: Atlanta

Recently I moved into my first apartment. I always lived in a dorm in college so I never had to get a bed, or couch, so this has been quite exciting and quite an ordeal as well. Over the past six weeks I have been really trying to perfect it to match my style. I think I am finally about 90% there.



My Kitchen!

I am learning to cook! So far I have successfully toasted some bagels and made some brownies. I have a long way to go.


Oh Kate Spade. I have been in love with this china since I was fourteen! It was discontinued two years ago and I was devastated. I found it at Replacements, LTD. and I am so glad I went with china I love as opposed to china I just like!



Blik Surface Graphics! They really add some character to the bare walls.

Harry Winston! He was helping me take pictures.


I LOVE my bed spread! I had started going for a plain gray, but then I saw this!


Marc Jacobs Biscotti! It is wonderful and I highly recommend it! It is only surpassed by Miss Dior so you know it is good!


Some Jewels I made and others that I didn't...


This Necklace is on my top 10 of things I purchased last season!


My color organized closet. Probably the only organized part of my life.

ahh Shoe Love!

More to come soon!

Mitten RAK

That's right. You can own a brand new pair of the Olympic mittens, just add your self as a FOLLOWER, if you are already added, don't worry, you'll be in the draw.

AND leave me a comment telling me your favourite part of the Olympics.

I'll draw a winner on Thursday, Feb. 25th at noon.

Don't forget, it's a 2 part thing, become a FOLLOWER, AND leave a comment!!!