Summer Recap, Part II

Much summer time was spent in the swiss Alps, bliss. 

Top 5 things we enjoyed:

1. Sleeping with no a/c (finally) and just breathing in the fresh air and staying warm with fluffy down-filled comforters.

2. Eating endless supplies of fondues, raclettes, viande séchée & chanterelles at some of our favorite places: Cabane de Mont Fort, Buvette de la Marlénaz. Total cholesterol overload, but who cares it was so good.

3. Picking wild flower bouquets along our walks in the mountains.

4. Trout fishing at the idyllic alpine village of Lac Champex.

5. Drinking fresh cow milk from La Laiterie de la Chaux, we felt like true Heidis. 

Summer Recap, Part I

Summer recap, where to begin? Eight weeks is a long time to be away, but then again it was so good to be back home with family and friends and needless to say that time flew. For starters, week one was spent in Geneva and was all about reconnecting with old friends and then some work too. Candice and I held our first Zojora Pop-Up Store event at her home. Response to our Zojora products was great, napkins and ikat sarongs from Bali were bestsellers. Very exciting for us to have our first Zojora clients and happy clients too. Thank you to all those who dropped by. Now that holidays are over, Candice and I are eager to complete our website, work on our Tumblr and Facebook page and most importantly source other Zojora products from accross the globe. Looks like this Fall will be all about new destinations. Can't wait. 

Happy to be back here, missed you.

Happy Birthday Rosie

 My sweet baby Rose is 9 today. Luckily we had a fun party for her last week with all her friends because today is mostly about packing, packing and more packing. Haven't quite figured how we're going to bring it all back, but somehow we will. Heading back to Europe for the summer. I can't quite believe that my Rose is 9 already and I also can't believe that we've now been in Singapore for 2 school years. This year has been great, lots of amazing traveling (definitely still my favorite aspect of living her), kids are really settled in, love their school, do a bunch of fun after school activities and I'm loving working on Zojora. Really all good, but sometimes we do miss home and that is why we can't wait to be back. Ok just need to bake some cupcakes, pack some more and we should be ready. 

Happy Summer to all of you.

Saigon this week

Quick trip to Saigon this week. I was bringing fabric to the locally based NGO "Fair Fashion Trade," picking up finished table linens, scouring the markets, eating Pho for breakfast and snapping up embroidered nightgowns for future ZOJORA clients. Loving, loving my sourcing / business escapades. Zojora should be shortly online and in the meantime check out our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Zojora/172657192864611.

Have a great weekend.

Bali Escapade

Flower offerings at Kumbassari Market, Denpassar

Sourcing Ikat fabric in Sukawati

Royal Palace in Ubud

Taking a break from all that shopping at Kudeta beach, Seminyak

Impromptu sale at home with goodies brought back from my trip

Escaped to Bali for 3 days this week. Purpose of this trip was sourcing, basically non-stop shopping. Working on a project of "travel inspired" accessories and table linens, that should be launched very soon and in the meantime looking for unique accessories that hopefully will have you lusting for. Went around to a bunch of local handicraft markets and met some great local jewelry designers. Can't wait to show you all the things that I picked up along the way. 

Have a great weekend.

Up and Around Chinatown

Took a quick stroll around Chinatown this afternoon in search of buddhas and beads. I love getting lost and wandering around Singapore. Definitely one of my favorite aspects about living here is discovering all these very typical and different ethnic neighborhoods. In one day, I can "travel" from India to China via Malaysia and then back in my hood which is know here as "Little Paris" or the Goon for others.

PS. If like me you're in the search for beads & trinkets head to People's Park Centre, a treasure trove.

Photo 101

Recently took a 2 day photo class at Ojectifs and have finally understood, more or less, the basic differences between shutterspeed, aperture and ISO. I now take my pictures in manual mode to the great regret of my kids who complain that I'm way too slow. Anyway, loving my newly learned skills. Think the colors are great, never use my flash anymore and learned how to shoot still lifes. Would definitely recommend their classes - check out their website as they have classes for all levels.

http://www.objectifs.com.sg/

Fishermen in Ambalangoda, Sri Lanka

Paper napkins in Ambalangoda

On the road to Galle, Sri Lanka

My overexposed Laguna shot that I'm in love with