designa italia

found a really nice interior designer today. m* actually gets our weird italian obsession for things luxe and modern. of a very specific slant. of course, it helps that she's from bologna and has actually led a real life in all the coolest places on earth. makes for an easy sell (we're sold!) and a good bit of kaching for her i guess... but it's so exciting to be doing something about the space for real now: enough talking, it's time for doing.

i knew from within the first 5 minutes, she is the One. it's refreshing not to have to explain away the concrete ceilings and exposed vent piping. and no, she did not attempt to suggest we paint over the concrete pillars (gasp!)... yes, that was a true story, another guy did indeed make that blasphemous suggestion. omg, i almost jumped out of my skin - clearly, he was so wrong for us or maybe he just wasn't gay enough...

the engagement process seems deceptively simple, makes me wonder what the hidden punchline might end up being. she came to our place for a quick looksee, took lots of notes and asked lots of questions (also, endured all our opinionated rants). now we're waiting for her contract & estimate and then the fun will begin! she's going to bring to bear all her resources and contacts, which is really our point of using a design professional. in a new city where we know no one, it's good to have someone to just deal with all the contractors and bring us the trade sources, i can't wait to pick out lighting fixtures and get to see what she has in mind.

toronto is so full of surprises. i thought we've covered all the nice furnishing stores worth trawling by now, but she's come up with a few more we never knew existed. ooh, more uber-modern house schtuff... guess we know what we'll be doing this weekend! she has the same aesthetic we do, it's just so refreshing to speak to her. i hope we're going to make the budget work, it's very dangerous to let us loose in her company...

speaking of shopping, went to check out our local haunt last weekend. saw a wonderful pair just meant to live together but alas the stars didn't align. it was the tacchini meniscus coffee table AND moon chair all in sleek black - on sale! crazy priced though even after discount, but oh it was tempting. still, it was probably the right thing to do because after our paint color discussion with m* it's better to wait till we decide on the paint. oh well, the wallet survives for another day...

where did june go?

man, it's been months... blame my procrastinating slacker attitude when i get home. but i have a good excuse (it seems) - i've really been focusing on work and play in this exciting new city. to the detriment of holing up at home to blog. the city beckons!

the condo is doing quite nicely, we really enjoy the space we've settled in. most of the big furniture has arrived although the dining set seems to be taking forever to get here. the living room still doesn't look quite "lived in" yet, due to the gaping hole in the dining area. we're also looking for an interior designer - mainly for paint colors and indoor/outdoor lighting design, among other little side-projects. hope to find a suitable one to work with soon... the search has been so slow. in the meantime, the wall colors grate on my nerves. edward continues to work in a lilac pink room, much to my amusement at his expense.

it's been a lovely summer though, not too hot and lots of sunny days. took a nice walk down to the lake last weekend, there was a Taiwanese Food Festival going on and needless to say we gorged ourselves. the novelty is wearing off though, asian food is always so consistently good in toronto that we find little urge to head back to asia just for the food. awesome food, coupled with numerous chinese tv channels broadcasted in your dialect of choice.... life in toronto is very similar to life in singapore!

have been focusing on my career these few months, hope to be able to report good news soon... :-) i'll keep mum for now. i'm finding much stimulation in my job (boring as it sounds) and driving my career is quite a lot of fun for a workaholic like me... but edward thinks i shouldn't be such a public nerd, hehehe...

will try to blog more often now that summer's coming to an end. what else is there to do when the days turn cool, except hole up at home and get on the internet?

happy labor day weekend, y'all in the USA and Canada!