#8 Best cure for hangovers: grape popsicles, I kid you not.

Feels like a different PERSON after coffee (3 shots).

EXAMS are going to be GOOOOOOOD!!!

My sister, R., won another PRIZE for being the TOP GIRL for PSLE PRELIM EXAMS!!! She was top girl last year too <3

What a smarty pants! Am so proud of her, love her so much!!! Got to go shopping and buy her lots of presents before I go back!

Because my sister is twelve, she can't go to a club and celebrate. But I can do it for her on her behalf!!!

Here're some of my cool friends: Mr. Pompous Apple and King Sparkly Starbust

And then they thought they were the shizzle shitzzz and drank too much (EXTREMELY NASTY) Greygoose vodka. So they decided to take a nap:

Lozers of the Night

Dear Friends, from the bottom of my heart, please do not EVER, drink Greygoose. It's so nasty I don't understand how do they have the guts to brand themselves as the Best-Tasting-Vodka around. I don't wanna get nerdy here, but I watched this experiment before on TV, where they blindfolded several participants and had them taste-test various Vodka. Not surprisingly, Greygoose topped the charts from the bottom-up.

Keep warm because Autumn has officially abandoned us and Winter is here to rip moisture out of our guts.

Flashbacks

$30. Or was it $35?

It was one specific weekend where I had taken the train to The Taj in downtown Mumbai alone. I was looking for some quiet respite and had wanted to escape "work" for awhile- but evidently one cannot escape from neither poverty nor pain. 

A lady carrying her finger-sucking infant approaches me, after several waves of other strangers tried selling me their balloons, semi-dried flower chains, and melting chocolates first.  I caved in on their fourth attempt and straddled down several alleys and half body-width lanes to a small mamaji shop by the corner. The shopkeeper behaved peculiarly and spoke in a near perfect British accent, on how I should buy more chocolates (or if I was watching my weight), whilst I picked out some milk powder for the baby. I paid $30. Or maybe $35 and was swarmed by an army of children thereafter. They were pulling me down to the ground. 

I stook out my arm and waved at a black, rickety, car. A taxi driver came to my rescue and shooed them away like fruit flies. I boarded the car, then the train, and wailed like my parents had just died, while speaking to my father on the phone. And all in all, kind eyed Indian ladies all around reached out to hold my hand, and seemingly smiling and saying through their eyes, "Everything will be okay. Don't cry. Don't be sad."

There is much grief, and sorrow in this world. But everything will be okay. 

www.emilyhills.com

Hi Monday,

I'm not sure if this is healthy but I wake up every morning feeling like death in the freezer and start evaporating in the heat the minute I step out of the doors. Yes, this strange, shocking routine, is Singapore for me. It's 12:16pm in the studio and I've been here for close to two (2) hours now. I know I should have been here at 8am, but I have this incredible ability in the mornings to plaster myself onto the brown leather armchair in my studio at home for close to an hour- vegetating away... contemplating/ procrastinating/ planning my calendar. The only saving grace this morning was that the Egg McMuffin was really good. Ah, what would we do without Drive-Thru(s). McDonald's could be the only consistent thing on earth.

The past week has been wonderful, and productive for me in my search for inspiration: I've met many of my favorite SC girls, a college-mate from BU (who flew in from HK), drowned my liver in laser lights and champagne, skipped work on Wednesday and went swimming with my dog, had several dinners at overpriced restaurants eating mice-sized portions, and wound up starving the morning after. I received a beautiful present: a Phantom in slate blue from the Summer 2013 collection, and almost like an epiphany, realized that I was more in love with the aroma of newly tanned and dyed leather than the bag itself. I know I could save a lot of money by buying leather scraps from the tannery. And believe me, I will.

Talking to new people, and reuniting with lovely, old friends, always, always, inspires me. We are friends because we are meant to be. And though we may live our lives in circles, we will find our way back together, because circles never end. This is precisely why I love all whom I meet in my path- because of Providence.

I hope your Providence inspires you too.

The Library

I had the most gorgeous drink in my life last night @ The Library/ Keong Saik Snacks. I love this calm, still, place, and it's wonderful old/ new neighbors.

My favorite bartender D, and I headed out for a dinner/ drinks on a late Monday night. We don't hang very often (other than when I'm on the other side of his bar, drinking his drinks), but this was one night when I felt absolutely necessary to drag my thoroughly tired butt and messy hair out of the office and to dinner at 9.30.

We talked a lot about fresh fruit bars, his current bar, my future bar, and other peoples' bars. All in all, finding some place quiet to drink, listen, talk, discounting judgement, (with a playlist), might just prove to be the soul of why we all look for dim spaces to empty our wallets and hearts.

It was a wonderful way to walk into a new friend's life, and I woke up in the morning feeling like a new person, thinking it was Saturday, all because last night was two drinks too strong.

A Londres

 

Some snippets of photographs from London, last Fall. 

My mom and I visited a friend and furniture maker, Luke Hughes, who had most recently re-designed all the ecclesiastical furniture at the Westminister Abbey, just in the nick of time for Prince Will & Kate's wedding. Luke would like to set up a furniture studio here,,, and my mom naturally tasked all labor intensive projects to me. I wanted to write to about my work in the studio and some fun projects coming up my sleeves.

But all I can say is that I ruined my pair of brown leather shoes one rainy afternoon in Paris. And I feel so sad now :(

Everything is so still on a Tuesday night

M50 Art Gallery; 莫干山路，上海

Though we sometimes like to think of ourselves as being perfectly individualistic, we are all alike, and more insecure than we'd often admit. Perhaps this is why the new year is worth celebrating; 365 days of transgressions washed away with champagne, cognac, chardonnay, and good cheers. We earn a new slate, a rebirth, without having done much or any repentance at all. Yet, all is good and well because sins stain us all and nothing good arises from self condemnation. In bid to shed the tears and fears of 2012, this is my resolution list for 2013.

1. To keep a timetable for work and play
2. Wake up at 6am every morning (ha ha ha)
3. Work faster and a little harder
4. Take more risks
5. Eat a strict pescetarian diet
6. Learn to drive
7. Take CFA exams
8. Work at a world renowned architecture firm
9. Learn to forgive, breathe, and let go
10. Spend more time doing nothing
11. Recycle more
12. Buy myself flowers weekly
13. Throw more dinner parties
14. Build Emilyhills Studio
15. Exercise with Jojo @ the Botanics 3x a week
16. Complete my portfolio for architecture school
17. Continue my search for happiness

2012

Do you remember those times where you're so very tired but for some strange reason or another, cannot bear to fully close those sinking eyelids and let your mind drift away into an abyss of grey. You persist, struggle, flutter those half shut eyes and shoot flares of thoughts/ dreams/ to-do-lists/ emails/ past conversations, like shots of stale caffeine, to keep your mind racing. 

I think that was how 2012 was for me. And I wouldn't say that I enjoyed every bit of it. 

I had spent a lot of time alone, in the studio, in the bathtub, in hotel rooms, in taxis. I recall spending most of my time trying to fall asleep, write to-do-lists, listening to new/old jazz + bossa nova, procrastinating work. Most importantly, I had wanted to be absolutely safe, and boring. 

Maybe for 2013, I'd reckoned some change would be nice. I'm thinking along the lines of keeping a stricter ovo-lacto vegetarian diet, sleeping earlier & waking up before noon. Perhaps walking my favorite cutiepie Jojo in the mornings and spending more time drawing, thinking, planning, and talking to people. Meeting more new friends other than people who buy my coffee, would be nice indeed. 

There is so much more I would like to write and tell you. But all I can think about now for now is heading to the shower or I would be stuck at home alone, on a New Year's Eve. 

Yuzu

Last night, I had one of the best meals in quite awhile. Starved, sleepy, and piled under an atomic bomb of work, I left the studio in pitch dark. I took a train, and wobbled along in tandem, ran an errand at the bank, and walked towards home in search of something good to eat. I walked into 7-11. There was nothing there, apart from some soda and condoms. And everything else was closed.

A few more steps, slightly dazed (but mostly hungry), I found myself at the door step of Tatsuya. I asked to be seated, "For supper?", they chirped. "No, overdue lunch", I replied. 

My givenchy antigona and I then promptly sat at the bar to order. I was too hungry to read the menu and was restraining myself from munching on my arm. I looked up and a familiar face looked back. I was unsure if I had indeed recognized the face, or if it was my stomach grunting in delirium, "Food, Head Chef, food...". I would've been quite sure it was the latter if not for my other consciousness suddenly yelling out, "Oh hi! I know you from the Japanese restaurant at Pines. It's been a while hasn't it?"

We were both stunned. 

17 seemed like such a long time ago, it could've been someone else's memory. I remember so little of it- I could barely claim it to be mine. But I'd reckon what's truly yours, will always find its way back to you- regardless of however much you deny it. He belonged to my memory of 17, when I used to frequent a Japanese restaurant not far from my old place. He made me feel important with the sushi treats he made in secret off the menu. I could bet you the sushi wasn't all that great, and I'm probably right (because that restaurant is closing down now.) But a certain emotion of warmth and delight would always well up inside of me at the very thought of this friendly chef. He remembered me as the girl with the fisheye camera (I had once taken a photograph of him.) with hair wrapped in a bun. 

I sat through a sushi dinner crafted by him as I quickly scribbled through some work for awhile. Then we gradually spoke more and ate some more. A quiet conversation unfolded through the subtle and fresh flavors of the food, gently torched, kneaded, lifted and held. And at the end of it all, I couldn't help but find myself comforted, and glad. Because for a brief while, I was 17 again, and I would give anything to live through one more day. 

Hokidachi Style

This is my new pet bonsai which I bought a couple of days ago. I wanted to write about it because I've never seen a bonsai flower before, but I see tiny ones sprouting out of this one. I know my bonsai is not the most fantastic looking of the lot, but I think I might be getting the hang of trimming it into shape. It's almost a psychological fear where you're afraid to snip off too much, but I like to think of it like cutting off the dead ends of your hair. Less is more, and it only gets better with each snip.

At Eternity's Gate

Today was a difficult day for me. I'm trying to write to tell you how I feel, but it's boggling, incoherent, and my mind is in several shades of dirt. Van Gogh is one of my favorite painters not simply because he's famous- but his paintings are an introspective study and expression of his relentless pursuit towards understanding raw human beauty, pain, religion, and the purpose of his life. And everybody knows that trying to understand these things will leave you nothing but insanity.

Sorrowing Old Man


The Potato Eaters

Click on the links to read it up on Wikipedia if you want. I'm not going to bore the daylights out of you.

Bon Anniversaire

Hi Everybody,

Thank you for coming to my birthday party- I had such a blast. I thoroughly enjoyed playing Chubby Bunny, preparing excessive amounts of food, color coordinating napkins & cutlery, and, reading through all the hand-written cards. The cake was great even though I didn't light my candle, and we had such heart knitted conversations because I didn't know how to operate my TV (I had recently swapped operators.)


Happy 23rd Birthday to me and this next year can only get better.

Hallo Everibardi

Some Karen Skywalker Oompa Loompa Sunglasses to get me through Tuesday.

With a sore throat and sniffles. 

Dear god please save my soul.

Finding the in-betweens

Nietzsche says, "there are no facts, only perceptions."

Six words- such deep, profound, truth. This sick man from a hundred years ago wrote with such great consistency of bare human mechanisms. This which could never change; we are the same from the time we were conceived. And we are the same as every other creature we call friend/ lover/ family/ stranger.

We all will our thoughts and lives in our selfish glass bubble. Our secret desires and vengeful thoughts are our only friends.

I wonder if I would ever lose my mind. Just like he did.

At least I'm out of the limbo of hades. Finally.

We owe nothing to ourselves but only to be happy.

Whatever that is. I hope you find it for yourself.

At least I can finally write again.

There's Work, and there's your Life's Work.

I love my furniture.

I don't know when it started, or how it started. But occasionally meddling and being surrounded with samples, fabrics, and wood, has morphed from my bones into something more profound than mere liking. I feel so intense about it, it seems silly.

Passion and humor are infectious. And that's the core philosophy of my business. I'm going to be the happiest business there ever existed. Everything about our designs, food, furniture, and people, are going to emanate the joy of work. Because people don't buy what you sell. They buy why you want to sell it.  We are more than carpenters/ designers/ retailers/ distributors/ opportunists/.

We are builders of furniture, sandwiches, and people.

Happy Monday Blues

The awful truth is that I haven't been happy in quite awhile.

But I've a feeling that I'm getting there.

Things aren't as bad as I picture them out to be in my head.

(Though I'm having a headache and a sore eye now.)

There is so much to be happy and excited about rather than depressed.

OPEN YOUR EARS AND LISTEN TO THE WORLD

Here, listen to something good and get on with your day (FACT MIX #337). It fits pretty well with the rain, the gloom, the heart aches, and the ones who need to concentrate. 

I want you to be happy.

Shawn Achor

Hard knocks and hard truths

Life Lesson #2.0 

Treat others the way you want to be treated.

Life Lesson #2.5

Don't ever think people will likely treat you the way you treat others.

For my Mom's birthday last December, I created my first dinner party menu. I had been keeping the menu on a sticky note on my Mac desktop and thought it was about time to delete it.

Mom's Birthday Party Menu

1. Brie Cheese on Unsalted Wheat Cracker served with Grapes
2. Roasted U.S. Baby Potatoes topped with Tuna Patatas
3. Smoked Norwegian Salmon with Garlic Bread and Olive Oil
4. Plain Ol' Roasted Chicken Wing
5. Deep Fried Shrimp Ball with Mustard Sauce
6. Mixed Vegetable (Carrot Cucumber Celery) with Baby Tomato Dip
7. Grilled Chicken Chipolata

Birthday Cake: Velvety Flush Croquembouche
from The Patissier

∇uckshop

I like to think of life and processes to be divided in parts. So we go through things in phases, always focusing on one tiny thing at a time. It helps me to breathe, it keeps me growing, and I stay focused. Getting caught up with sometimes unnecessary paperwork and conversations sometimes distract me. I barely find myself motivated to write, write, write, or to take simple photographs. For that split second- taking a picture, standing still, breathing, and cutting an image into your head, means a lot to me. Nuggets of calm, peace, and relaxation- ample to pull you through all your lazy afternoons.

I do have extra time to spare. But I just prefer slouching and watching TV, and to stop thinking.

On a side note: Thanks to my lovely friends, Tuckshop has grown tremendously over the past 3 months, and this is how our home currently looks. So, come eat with us.

Numero #1

Hi Guys,

Am alive and not dead yet.

Will write something soon once I get inspired or depressed.

Either one works.

But I am currently in love with Gongchaaaaaaaa I drink so much of it, it's flowing out of my ears. I kid you not.