Christmas Aftermath!

I'm finally back home for the holidays! My whole family enjoyed some very lovely holidays despite there being no snow! It's raining now but of course it's 2° above zero so it won't turn to snow. Such a tragedy. In the meantime I can enjoy my brand new white iPhone 4S! Greatest phone ever (so far). I also got some bits of jewelry and a pillow with speakers that plays music while I sleep!

I also got a beautiful framed poster artwork from my very favourite boy that is awaiting its hanging on my wall! I'm finally slowly recovering from a wicked 14 hour jetlag and have gone out for a couple of drinks with friends I've missed dearly.

Still working on new years plans...we'll see what happens!

Cozy evening at my Aunt's

Framed artwork present :) I love pin up girls!

China

Not much has been happening in my life recently. Some shopping, lots of work, relaxing, and getting super excited for the Christmas holidays. 10 days left! Fingers crossed there's tons of snow when I get home, because there's a sweet new snowboard waiting for me!

I thought I'd post a collection of photos from Mainland China and Macau I have sitting on my phone that I keep forgetting to post!

Galaxy Hotel and their horribly tacky mini-show in the lobby

Evening in the Chinese countryside. Very beautiful.

Angel shoes, anyone?

Original street from the Ming Dynasty below the walking street in Mainland

The oldest church in Macau, left with nothing but its face.

A little treat

A little treat for myself because I'm such a hard worker ;) and I'm getting sick... My computer is finally working after having a major meltdown in which I had to replace the hard drive, which is always fun. So in order to make myself feel better, I did a little shopping at The Venetian with a work client from Norway. Just some basic necessities (of course) from Zara ♥

Formula 3 Grand Prix!

After a calm saturday, I spiced up my weekend by attending the Formula 3 races that occur every year in Macau at the end of november. We watched the standard car races, motorbike races and the F3 races. I've never been to a large-scaled car race before so this was a new experience and an awesome one at that. Loud noises, fast cars, screaming fans, girls in bunny costumes (for the men, of course) and crazy wipeouts. What's there not to love? :)

Wipeout aftermath

Workin' workin'

After spending yesterday in the Zhuhai factory, today is the first day heading back to the office after 2 weeks of working at home. As sad as I am to not be working at home today, it's nice to make an effort and dress in something else than mjukisar :)

Troubled Love

So I remember probably in 2007 going into NK in Stockholm, Sweden one day. I hated shoe shopping at the time but stumbled across a pair of boots that captured my attention and first introduced me to Marc Jacobs. These boots seem quite disliked and many people find them distasteful but I can't help but love their uniqueness. However strong my admiration may be, the possibility of purchasing these twins on the internet these days is anything but possible. I've searched thru Ebay, Amazon, all of Google and whatever else I could think of to no avail. If anybody knows of a place to buy them, new or used, leave a comment :).

Marc by Marc Jacobs zipper boots

Fascination

My last two weeks have been spent working from home so I haven't had much to blog about. I have, however, been introduced to a documentary thru a friend that absolutely captivated me and is a must-see for anybody interested in fashion and/or photography. Bill Cunningham is an very inspirational figure and this documents his life, his passion, his inspiration and his love for the world of fashion. I simply can't emphasize enough how fantastic this doc is :)

New 'Do!

Went into Zhuhai today for a relaxing saturday after lunch at the Galaxy hotel with my boss and got my hair permed into curls! I apparently was the first foreigner to ever go in there so I had about 5 hairdressers come up just to feel my hair. A little weird...I felt like a scientific discovery.

Wo Nelly

After a long (but relaxed) week of work, I got to enjoy the spoils of a live Nelly concert at one of the nearby clubs. With enough room to actually move and breathe and being able to see more of him than just a dot on a massive stage, it was awesome. Some (clearly wealthy) girl was celebrating her birthday and hired Nelly to play at the club. I had the privilege of standing on one of the sofa backs (was like a platform) so I got to view it all undisturbed...admittedly it took me ass-hitting a Thai bouncer in the head to get up there...oops.

Despite that I've been lying in bed idly the entire day with the worst hangover I've ever had in my life. I'm fairly certain that's the fault of a poorly chosen Long Island Iced Tea but I think that party makes up for the extended period of time I've been unable to party here, so I shouldn't complain. It was great.

So good...

The first half of this week was spent with two guys I worked with from Unibrands in Borås. It was nice to see people I know from near home. Our last night we all went out to an amazing French restaurant in MGM where I had the best chocolate cake I've ever had. It was baked to order so it came out hot and the inside wasn't fully cooked so it was melted and gooey. Ah-mazing. I'm debating going back there just to eat that. Yesterday my boss and I went to the market across the border in Zhuhai where I bought a new pair of fur boots (see previous post) and had dinner.

Now I get to spend the rest of this week working from home and possibly parts of next week too! That's always something to enjoy :)

New boots!

I thought they were unique and almost unappealing at first but they grow on you pretty fast :)

Lovin' Hong Kong saturday

Spent a lovely morning walking around Macau on saturday and left for Hong Kong in the early afternoon with my dad. We spent some time walking around there as well and ended up crossing to the Kowloon side and spent 4 hours at the Intercontinental Hotel (amazing view and atmosphere). There was a live jazz band and a live jazz singer that were both outstanding. It was a fantastic night until I walked out of the hotel and a bird shit on my shoulder. Awesome.

Tetris fail

Kowloon side - Evening

Dinner at the Intercontinental

Hong Kong at night

Weekend time!

My dad has finally arrived in Macau to visit after a business trip around China! We spent our first night eating at a Japanese restaurant where I was unknowingly fed sea urchin testicles by my boss' son because he undoubtedly thought it would be a good laugh. As shameful as it may sound, they were not half bad.

Tomorrow I will take a walk around the Taipa island and then off to Hong Kong for the weekend! Something to look forward to.

Part of the older central downtown Macau. The Portuguese style really shows.

Mystery shopping

I went Christmas shopping! I know it's very early and odd but I thought I'd get some of it over with. Probably the first time I've done Christmas shopping when it's still 24°C out... Although not totally complete, I got most of it out of the way :) how organized am I?

Nice night

Tonight was the birthday of my boss' boyfriend. So we celebrated with a lovely dinner out and dessert of muchly miss cake. I also got a gift from my boss who got a free scarf when buying a bag. Free or not it's awesome :)

Scarf!

Tasty fruit cake

T-shirt, anyone?

My boss went with some company to Yiwu, China, where there are 5-story buildings with thousands of stores where you can purchase certain quantities of low-priced items to sell in your own shops. Discovered was this wonderfully packaged t-shirt. After soaked in water for 5 minutes, it expands into a full t-shirt with various graphics! Such a great idea...

Drawing

Weird food...

This week I have gotten to spend half of my work week at home with a new large order to create the winter line for 2012. With a sum of about 50 pieces, I'll be kept busy for the next month. Last night I went out for dinner and a few drinks which was nice after sitting at home working all day. And lately I've tried some particularly odd things...

Frozen Bird's Nest cake - a white cake to be eaten frozen with a filling of bird's nest (which literally means the nest and spit of a sparrow (i think) put into a cake). It's very expensive..and doesn't taste particularly good.

Seafood pasta with squid ink...didn't think I'd ever see something like that. Least appetizing-looking dish ever.

Macau Week 5

So I spent my weekend generally lying idly in bed drawing and sleeping. It was a nice little vacation from my busy week of visiting Hong Kong for the exhibition and Zhuhai to visit our factory where I got to see some of my first samples! Very exciting.

On sunday we went out for a walk around the casino area of Macau. It's really beautiful and it's all by the water (considering it consists of 3 islands). We walked thru the MGM hotel and around Wynn hotel.

Inside the MGM

Pretty Wynn hotel

Grand Lisboa

My idea of limo service (Wynn hotel)

Free time 2

Free time

Bored on a saturday... Photoshop CS4

Macau: Hong Kong mässa

So yesterday we took a ferry over to Hong Kong to attend the Interstoff Asia exhibition for textiles. We ate at a beautiful restaurant overlooking the bay and walked around the exhibition looking at buttons, zippers, zipper pullers and fabrics for about 3 hours. Slowly but surely I will learn about the fabrics, their uses, names, layering, and all that other fun stuff. Afterwards we shopped around Hong Kong a bit (naturally). We were on the Kowloon side on my previous visit so yesterday I got see more of the Hong Kong side. After shopping we drove 20 minutes out to a bunch of restaurants lined with tanks of various sea animals where you could choose your meal and how it was cooked. In my opinion it was a little sad but the Chinese really love their seafood!

Ominous view from the ferry.

Mövenpick treat after the exhibition.

Variety of seafood options in front of the restaurant.

A trip around town!

During a lovely day off for the international holiday, I got to eat a very nice hotel/golf course on one of the islands where we had a nice view of the black-sanded beaches. It's quite unusual to see natural black sand. I have to say I prefer the more neutral colours...

I also got to spend an enjoyable evening in downtown Macau amongst the casinos and hotels. Such a beautiful sight! For the first time I tasted pigeon which is surprisingly tasty but I did feel a little sad eating it (poor animal). Tonight I also got the opportunity to go out and experience my first pub. A nice little place close to my flat with my boss' son. We had a few drinks and watched X Games in snowboarding, which only got me more excited for my 2 weeks of snow over Christmas I'll be spending in Chicago. For now it is late and I must rest for tomorrow I travel to Hong Kong to attend an accessories exhibition to learn about exciting stuff like different zippers...

The view from the hotel

Macau at night! <3

Week 4! (+ weekend update)

So I spent my entire weekend in Hong Kong. We traveled around a bit to see a little of the city and then attended a classy buffet in celebration of the International holiday. Towards the end everyone lined up along the windows to watch the lovely firework display. My boss took a few photos so I'll post those when she sends them. We did a great deal of shopping on Sunday (10.30 - 7.00) oh my... I will post pictures when I have the time and energy to do so :)

Yesterday arrived a fellow Swede who I helped to design for during my summer job in Borås at Unibrands. He also got me the position here and works with my boss in some areas. It's nice to speak Swedish ... or speak at all as everyone else speaks Chinese. Tonight we had a lovely little after-dinner delight at the flat I am staying in.

Mini-Globen i Hong Kong!

Parma-ham, grapes, smelly cheeses and melon (for the dried ham, Spanish delicacy!)

With wine <3