THE MAGIC ASIAN LANTERNS

I have disappeared! Here I am, but ready to disappear again! Wait a minute I will explain. The last few weeks I have been so busy with my mom and brother in town, who came all way from Brazil to enjoy a little of the summer with us! I tell you: We were busy together and having a lot of fun! But the truth is… summer is going to become busier {for me and Mike} from today on! We are leaving to China this afternoon, going for an adventure for 21 days. I am excited, but not with big expectations. Sometimes I think I am going to be really surprised…!

We try to watch movies and documentaries about the place where we are going… I think it’s important to learn about the place where you are going to visit before you go, in that way when you are there you would experience the culture in another level. The last movie we watched was “Raise of the Red Lanterns” (a movie I watched so many times already), but I wanted to watch again to get in the “Chinese mood”… So talking about lanterns… today I would like to share the magic of the Asian Lanterns!

Well, if you are not going to Asia… and maybe is a little bit jealous of me I would like to help you to bring Asia to you, just to your backyard! To start: get inspired by these amazing indoor and outdoor spaces… table arrangements… from these images. All beautifully designed with an ancient kind of touch_ the paper or silk lanterns; creating a magical mood to your space. It’s a simple and inexpensive solution to make your party a visual delightful experience with an oriental detail.



A little of the history of the paper lanterns…

According to China Travel , the precursors to Chinese paper lanterns might have been torches carried on the eve of the Chinese New Year by Buddhist monks as early as 250 B.C. Monks carried these torches at night in hopes of spotting the ethereal figures of the Buddha and his bodhisattvas. Soon, commoners began making lanterns with frames of bamboo, redwood or wire and covering them with thin, oiled paper, gauze or silk. Today, lanterns are largely unchanged in design, though paintings of historical or heroic figures, divinities, and landscapes on the paper are popular.


Here some great new designs of paper and silk lanterns:

If you are interested in shopping for lanterns go to:

Paper Lantern Store

Just Lanterns

Allsop Home & Garden

SEE YOU IN 3 WEEKS!



POOL HOUSES TO CHILL MY EMOTIONS OUT

This whole weekend I wished I had a pool… and a pool house together would be better! A cute and cozy place where I could make a mess when I had the pool parties; and at the same time a place to have my special ones stay when visiting. It was the 4th of July yesterday… Oh, how great it would be to have a gathering with friends around the pool, barbecue, beer, have fun; really enjoy the pleasures of summer. Today when I woke up and I looked outside the window from my apartment I got in a bad mood… how awful to be in a bad mood on such a beautiful day! The sun was bright, the colors were saturated, the sky was blue… so blue, and it was such a hot day (I mean, still)! And then I thought about the pool again… and headed off to the dentist! When I met my dentist and asked him how he was doing, he said: _ “I wish I could be around the pool today!” I bet almost everybody from my area today thought about hanging out around a pool. So, while I don’t have my pool and my pool house I will keep collecting inspiring images and I will be building this dream in my mind.



… It’s still sunny and beautiful outside. The sun is coming down… It’s dinner time; and I wish that I could be now having my dinner with love ones, around the pool, enjoying the sunset over the mountains.

The truth is… I fell really down today, and maybe the pool would “chill my emotions” out!

A SPECIAL MEETING…

Yesterday I had a special meeting with a special person (special for me): Vicente Wolf. As I already declared in one of posts I have a huge admiration for Vicente Wolf’s work and his successful story. Recently I interned in his office for about 3 months and I had the privilege to meet and work close to him. Not feeling satisfying with that I asked him to have a meeting where we could sit down and talk a little bit. This meeting it was scheduled for yesterday… I couldn’t wait for that! I got there, rang the bell and for my surprise he was the one who opened the door!… We walk me to the meeting room, where is surrounded by a lot of beautiful and interesting all kinds of photography collected by him. It’s an amazing special room, in my opinion. In his gentleman way he asked me to sit down. I started explain to him my reason why I asked him for that meeting… I was nervous! He noticed that and ask me why I was nervous if I that spend time there already for a while as an intern?! Well, then I expressed my admiration one more time, and told him that I never could act “normal” in front of him, because he always been a myth, an idol for me! Even working there for a few months made my feelings to be changed. Perhaps made my admiration for him became bigger by observing how polite, generous and giving he is. So then I told to him that I prepared some questions and I would like to ask him… Then I started asking the questions and writing down what he was responding… Eventually, I stopped writing down because the interview became more like a conversation. So I started trying to really listening what he was saying and learn more about him and the field of interior design. He spent about 40 minutes with me. I think it was very generous from him, considering the fact how busy he is! I feel so grateful and lucky to have experienced this moment!

Vicente Wolf in his apartment



If you would to meet Vicente Wolf start checking his blog... His meeting room in his blog...

However, I left the place more thoughtful then ever… I went to a coffee shop, asked for a hot tea and start writing down everything that he said. I did not want to forget he’s advices… One of the advices he gave to me it was to visit the museums a lot, try to “look at things”, find out what you really like! So that what I did! I headed to The Metropolitan Museum of Art… I’ve been in The MET few times… But this time I started looking at things in a different way… and I found so many beautiful things again… I started looking not just the object by itself, but the object and its colors, textures, shapes & forms, details, periods, etc. I took pictures of all the pieces that I liked, and here I would like to share some of them!

IF YOU WANT TO LOOK AT ALL THE PICTURES THAT I TOOK THAT DAY... Click here!



ASIAN STYLE



I have been so intensely busy this week… between finishing my hubby and my summer trip plans to China, preparing to host my dear mom, trying to make a business project  happen, finishing my internship… between the normal stuff of every day! I feel so bad that I’ve been displacing my blog… I haven’t been on time with it! My goal is one post per week! But the week has been passing by so fast! I can’t keep up!!! I need some “Zen style” to slow me down and relax me…! It’s the Asian Style: a minimal, clean, contemporary style. What I like about the “Asian Style” is the fact that is simple and open! It could be a little cold and lack charm, but it’s very practical. This week what I did need the most it was practicality. I think life can be so much less complicated if we live in more open spaces, with less things…! What do you think?

Learn how to live "zen" with... Zen Habits