Last-minute Christmas Tree

This is our X’mas tree number two for the season. I made a chocolate dipped strawberry tree earlier this month, which lasted only for a day because of its popularity. I thought that was it for this year since we’d be spending most of the holidays at Yosemite Park. It turned out we would have some friends and family over right after our Yosemite trip. In order to greet our guests with some holiday festivities, I made this last-minute tree by cutting the plum branch from the backyard, stuffing the jar with holly berries from the trees and hanging some ornaments and X'mas wish notes. Viola- it’s an instant booster for holiday ambiance.

Given the time constraints, I’m quite pleased with the way it turned out. Perhaps we should keep this as our holiday tradition since it’s easy to assemble and environmentally friendly. There is no more fuss of transporting the tree from the shop and tons of waste after the holidays.

Robert le Heros

I’ve been in love with Robert le Heros, a fabric/design house, ever since I came across its home furnishing line at Lotus Bleu a few years ago. Their unique take on refreshing color combinations and modern patterns totally makes me smitten. But I sometimes find similarities between Robert le Heros and Amy Butler’s work either in color selection, the graphic patterns or the application of the fabrics. Robert le Heros might have a little bit more of European flair to it. Well, I guess great minds think alike.

On a recent visit to the Robert Le Heros website, I found out that it launched a vacation rental project – Casa Amarelo in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. Like its website suggested, it is a place with beautiful ancient charms and contemporary fixture and aesthetics at the same time. Mixing old with new is definitely right up my alley. If I ever make a trip down there, this would be the place to stay. In the mean time, I can only drool over these delicious images.

Original images from Robert le Heros and Casa Amarelo

What is this???

What is this thing??? This is often asked by my coworkers when seeing it quietly sitting on my desk. It is --a tea infuser made by Tavolo, my recent score at Sur La Table. At first glance, I didn’t have any idea of its use either. I was simply attracted to its beautiful form and an elegant angle when it's placed on the table. When I realized that it’s a tea infuser, I knew I had to get one. It’s visually pleasing and also comes in handy at the office. You no longer need to be equipped with the entire tea set just for a good cup of tea to keep you from dozing off in the afternoon...

Christmas Tree

We decided not to get a living Christmas tree this year because we would be spending most of the Christmas week at Yosemite Park. But in order to surround ourselves with holiday spirit this season, I decided to make a miniature tree for the tabletop. As it turned out this tree was obviously more appreciated by everyone than those we had in the past, it didn’t even last long enough for the weekend……..