Things that make a 4-year-old fashionista cry

Bella, as I was getting dressed to go out for drinks with friends last week sometime: "Mama, don't wear those shoes, wear these ones."

Me: "But don't you think these are supercool and kind of funky?"

Bella: "What funky means? Mama, I don't like those shoes. Wear the highers with the lace." [In Bella World, heels are "highers," weights are "strongers," and the microwave is the "hotter." Makes sense to me.]

Me (pulling rank, putting on my shoes of choice): "Um, no, I'm wearing a flowery top so I can't wear lacy shoes. I'm wearing these."

Bella: "Mama, if you wear those shoes, I'll be very sad."

The shoes in question:

p.s., Her dislike for them didn't stop her from trying them on and jumping around a bit: 

And here's Matias, contemplating whether they could, in a pinch, be eaten:

Melissa/Alexandre Herchcovitch jelly-wedge-oxfordy shoes, from Pedder Red. Also available online from Saks Fifth Avenue. Because despite what this particular 4-year-old thinks, they really ARE supercool.

First things first: Saigon shopping

I was in Ho Chi Minh City for two and a half days, and the mission of the first day (when Mik and Bella had not yet arrived) was to get my shopping done. Most of the first day went by, taken up by a couple of baby naps, a trip to the market and dinner with friends, but lucky me, a couple of cool shops on my walk back to the hotel were still open at 8:30 on a Friday night.

At Nagu, the gorgeous kids' clothes and bags are made in Vietnam with local and Japanese materials. Lots of linen and cotton with simple but eye-catching embroidery detailing.

And, of course, I had to get a bag for me:Their card:There was also a more "traditional" kids' clothing store, with lots of embroidered and smocked dresses, shirts, nightgowns, literally thousands of dresses, hundreds of designs packed into this one store:I was also thrilled that they actually had cool boys' stuff too. I got Matias this cute t-shirt and another pair of overalls that he will probably wear once (because he spends most of his time in a t-shirt and diaper, or in onesies, but oh well):I am a sucker for embroidered seersucker.And then, a sweet green nightgown for Bella, and this white dress that I just unpacked, today belatedly realizing that it is a size too small. Gutted. Luckily we have a bunch of littler girl friends who would look super sweet in it.

Oh - and the coolest part - all told, the nightgown, dress, shirt and overalls = $35 USD. Score!

Nagu - HCMC and Hanoi, address and contact info on their card above.
NKid - On Le Loi, on the left side when walking from the market to the Opera House.
(Sorry, I threw away their card and the dress tags provide no info)

Clothes made for Bella

It's unfortunate that I'm not organized enough to try to get some kind of endorsement deal from this clothing chain. Bella absolutely love love looooves their clothes, especially the line she's wearing in these photos - frilly girly "ballet" skirts and cool comfortable tee shirts and tanks. They're tomboyish but cool and easy to wear with just a touch of Carrie Bradshaw. As you can see from the photos, fits Bella's personality to a T. Plus, it's a Filipino chain, so I can say, "I remember when I was buying shirts from Gingersnaps when they only had the one location in Makati."

Gingersnaps, now in stores all over Manila and Bangkok.
In Singapore: at Paragon, Takashimaya, Isetan Scotts, United Square Mall and Raffles City.

Went out to buy a mirror and this is what happened

Bella, as we walked in the door last night: "Mama, why is there a tree in our living room?"










Coffee Tree, from Asiatique
Blk 14A
Dempsey Road
Tel: 6471 3146
Open: 10.30am to 6.30pm daily

Rouge Baiser

What is it about the combination of French and Chinese style that produces such beautiful things? Not wanting to be out for too long this afternoon, what with packing up the house, and Bella suddenly down with a cough, cold, and fever (yiiiiiikes), I had to make the tough decision between checking out the semi-annual sale at Rouge Baiser, or to schlep out to Houhai to make one last stop at Xiao Fu Xing (no website, sorry).

In the end, proximity (they're 5 minutes away in Sanlitunrrr) and the prospect of a good bargain helped Rouge Baiser win out by a hair. No regrets - they do absolutely gorgeous work there, everything HAND-EMBROIDERED, which normally comes at a fairly steep price, but I managed to pick up a few things on sale. CUTE! And ON SALE! Two of my biggest criteria for buying, well, anything.

A sweet white nightgown and a pretty purple sundress for Bella:
Sweet baby boy bedding with bluebirds (the other choice were these mice in your choice of outfit; which, though still pretty cute, just seemed wrong somehow. I mean, really: vermin in your baby's bed?):

And finally, a duvet cover and a baby cot liner, which I'm planning to transform into a headboard cover, either for Bella's new bed in Singapore, if I can find sheets that can make the whole set seem more "kiddie," otherwise for a guest bedroom:

And here's a sample of what I passed up at Xiao Fu Xing. Picked this gorgeous little number up last time I was there - I mean, really. Have you ever seen such a delicious little dress? It's still a touch too big for Bella, and I had worried, at the time, that it would be winter by the time it would fit her. But now that we're moving to hot hot hot Singapore, as Chandler Bing used to say, the point is moo ("It doesn't matter; it's the opinion of a cow!").

Xiao Fuxing
43 Zhonglouwan Hutong,
Gulou

(In the courtyard between the Drum and Bell towers in the Houhai area; definitely call ahead for their hours as they are notorious for shutting down early, and not being open on certain seemingly random days: 8403-4740)

Rouge Baiser by Elise
5 Sanlitun Xi Wu Jie, around the corner from Jenny Lou's and April Gourmet in Sanlitun North

Self-imposed embargoes are made to be broken

I was theoretically supposed to shut down "the workshop" on Monday to concentrate on organizing, tidying, and packing. I postponed that to Tuesday to finish up the seahorse zipper bags that I wanted to get up into my Etsy shop, and then yesterday I ran across this mohair tank sweater that has been sitting in my office since I picked it up at a thrift shop last winter. I've had the coral-and-seafoam or watermelon-and-turquoise color combo on the brain lately, so I ended up UNpacking a few bins to track down beads and balls and felt and such to try with it.

One of the nice things about having a three-year old is that they're all about "I'll do it myself!" so setting Bella up with some paper and a bit of glitter glue usually buys me a bit of time to do whatever. So I got to futz around quite a bit with cutting up the sweater and making fun stuff with it. The lariat and the necklace (Mr. Bunny there was part of the porcelain spree the other day) came together pretty quickly and are already up on Etsy.

Then it just seemed silly to stop there, so rings and hair baubles and things seemed to be the logical next step. Added plus: no need for a sewing machine for these, so they'll be perfect to keep me occupied over the 5 weeks in Singapore while we're waiting for our container to arrive. Though maybe looking for an apartment, finding a nanny, a school for Bella, a hospital and a doctor for me, buying minor items like beds and living room furniture may well be enough to keep me occupied for a while. Oh, and I'm supposed to be working 25-hour weeks, too. And my BabyCenter auto-emails say I'm now at 33 weeks (funny how you don't keep as close track with your second baby; with Bella I think I knew to the day). Hm. Aren't there more hours in the day closer to the equator?

The enormous, the tiny, and the beeeaaauuuuutiful

I'm in the middle of a bit of a shopping fever, since our imminent move to Singapore (in less than a week, yikes!) will, for the first time in 5 years, remove me from the Fount of All That is Cool and Amazingly Inexpensive (i.e., Made in China, but, you know, in a good way).

First stop, in the Lido area, was Spin Ceramics, which makes the coolest, funkiest, most unique fine new porcelain I have seen anywhere. The pieces were delivered so securely packed and ready to ship that I decided not to unwrap them just to drool over them, but I found some photos online that were similar to what I bought:

The Lotus Bowl (I got the biggest one they had, of course, almost a meter across, large enough to bathe a new baby, in a pinch):

And then the tall skinny vase (mine has the blue paint on it, but the gesture on mine is much cooler), with a big plate that happened to match: There were a few(!) other things, like the strange and probably completely useless object called the Pomegranate Vase (which I couldn't find a picture of in their catalog) but that I had been drooling over for months. Picture to come when it gets unpacked in Singapore, I guess. Plus they threw in some unexpected freebies (which gives you some idea of how much damage I did there) which were actually things I was considering buying. They must've been tracking me around the shop as I aaaaagonized over my purchases.

Here's a link to a cool flickr stream of Spin Ceramics' collection this year.

Then it was on to Nurenjie (Lady Street) Market, where the first thing that called to me were some teeny tiny retro-looking teacups from the second-run porcelain shop (i.e., the reject shop):

I also got to confirm the news that Super Bar Street, across from Nurenjie, is now gone - a casualty of the proximity of the new U.S. Embassy. Not that I ever spent a lot of time at Super Bar Street, but they did have a couple of good restaurants (notably the Malaysian place, Awana, and the pita place, mmmmm) that I would have missed. Too bad for embassy staff.

Then, in the garden section, some enormous earthenware pots - in the Philippines we call them "tibor". I couldn't help myself - I picked up 5 pieces, two of them bigger than Bella. They are so large and heavy that Mik can barely pick up the biggest one, but they do have great acoustics, and he and Bella had a great time throat-singing into them the evening they were delivered. The tibor my grandmother had were all wide-mouthed and kind of squat, but I couldn't help thinking of small kids falling headfirst inside, so except for the one huge one, I stuck with the smaller-mouthed shapes.

Our movers have made the shipping estimate and provided us with the quote, so I can't in good conscience keep going on like this, but tomorrow, the mission is: lamps. It's shocking, but I just realized that all of our lamps are from IKEA, and that's just no way for anyone to live.

Forgotten little people

As usual, it started with glitter. Bella and I were making little houses and trees to decorate with glitter this morning, and we recruited a few little people that were in a random bowl in the living room to live in our little town and forest.Then we decided that they needed party hats:

Then Bella remembered that once upon a time, there were more of these little people, and I eventually found them hiding in my office closet, where they were safely stashed since the festivities of last Christmas (I hid them around the house and Bella got to play a photo/powerpoint-aided hunt for them).

I painted these in a 5-night, two-buck-chuck aided spurt of obsessive painting last winter. From left to right, in the rear, we have: Farfar, Farmor (in national dress, reminiscent of Wolfie's asking her at someone's wedding: "Farmor, why are you dressed like a pirate?"), Annie from the Little Einsteins, "Boy", Hillary Clinton, Ninong Vincent in scrubs, Armando the last remaining professional waiter, and finally, Sarah Palin. Or maybe it was Tina Fey playing Sarah Palin.In front are the kids: Dartmouth kid, Baby Palin, another "Boy", Ladybug Girl, Dancing Girl (Bella's favorite), and Bumblebee Girl.

Then there's Pappa (in Beijing Devils rugby gear and his scrum cap), Michelle Obama, China Doll, Beijing Expat (in his tux on the way to the Aussie Ball, maybe), Lolo Al (with his fishing rod behind him), Stepford Wife, and finally, Barack Obama.

Yeah, I had fun with these.

Macaroons

Bella loves pink macaroons. She'll do ANYTHING for a pink macaroon. I had lunch at Comptoirs de France in Lido, and even though I knew they would have to ride around in my purse for the rest of the afternoon (hence their slightly beat-up appearance), I couldn't pass up these saturated colors - unusual for macaroons - they just made me happy.

Little things from Panjiayuan

One of my favorite things to do in Beijing is to spend a couple of hours wandering around the market at Panjiayuan. It's a huge market area with a bunch of wholesale-type vendors, as well as many many random people selling all manner of antique and faux-antique goods. I've had some really cool finds from here over the years, and the trick is definitely to go slow, take your time, and to keep a "look around" mindset, rather than a "must buy something" mindset. I normally gravitate towards the porcelains, but on this trip, nothing there jumped out and screamed "BUY ME!" Instead, I picked up these amazing pieces of embroidery (from the tiniest old lady - I'm 5'3" and she only came up to my armpit), and some tiny animal figurines for $2 apiece. FUN.

Teeny Weeny Tree

OK, that actually didn't take long. It's a first attempt, but I gotta say it's kind of promising. At least my papa will get a kick out of it.