what’s in my bag

Here’s what’s inside my Louis Vuitton Cabas Naxos.

Apple Powerbook 12″. Louis Vuitton Poche Toilette 26. Leather gloves from Gothenburg. Louis Vuitton monogram key and change holder. Louis Vuitton Damier Graphite 6 keys holder. Louis Vuitton Damier pocket agenda cover. Louis Vuitton Black Multicolore Wapity. Joby Gorillapod SLR (for my Panasonic DMC TZ1 camera). Prada sunglasses. Nokia 6300 for work and private use. Montblanc Large Notes in red calf-leather. Montblanc Pocket Notes in natural calf-leather. Montblanc Noblesse Oblige fountain pen. G-Star Raw store opening flyer.

laduree et canard

Got these wonderful presents from biancaboo yesterday when I paid her a visit.

She was recently in Paris and brought home a divine box of Laduree macarons. I miss Paris, and a single bite on one of these takes me to the grand interiors of this Parisian pastry shop and tea salon landmark.

All the way from the Philippines, I got this box of wooden duck napkin rings from biancaboo’s sisters. They are hand-carved and very nice. Thank you very much Manang L and V!

be mine

it’s here! it’s really here!!!

And this almost didn’t happen. Madonna first announced that she’s taking her successful Sticky & Sweet Tour to Oslo, Norway on the 30th of July. Tickets got sold out in 34 minutes and I wasn’t able to get tickets as I got through the online booking queue 40 minutes past 9am, when the ticket company started selling.

More than a week later, while Knut and I were watching some late night TV, it was mentioned that Madonna was to have an extra concert in Oslo. The following day, I called the ticket company and inquired about it but they said they haven’t got tickets to sell for this extra concert. It wasn’t until the second day that it got published on Norwegian newspapers of the extra concert on the 29th of July, one day earlier than the first announced concert. HOLY!

This time I knew I had to be smart and speedy. I registered at Livenation, the concert organizer for the Sticky & Sweet Tour. The following day, February 20, pre-sale tickets were available from the site and after some error messages as I was directed to the ticket company site, I finally got through the page where I could select the seats. 2 Golden Circle tickets please! Available! Sweet sweet sweet! But oh, I realized I had to buy for another friend so I clicked back to choose 3 seats. Only to find out from the drop-down tab that only 2 is allowed. Click. Seats no longer available! Shit shit shit! I refreshed. And refreshed. And it what felt like the longest 5 seconds of my life, I pulled through and 2 Golden Circle tickets miraculously appeared again for me to take. YES!!! Sadly, Golden Circle tickets were sold out by the time I was ordering for my friend. 

After days of intense waiting, wondering if the card payment got through and that our tickets weren’t returned to the stable for selling again, our tickets arrived in the mail today! It’s here! It’s really here!!! And I couldn’t contain my joy and excitement! It was a hard (as candy) start, but Knut and I are in for one sticky summer of our lives.

And it’s so sweet I could taste it.

national opera house and freshmess on travel+leisure

The Norwegian National Opera House has won Travel+Leisure’s 2009 Design Awards for Best Cultural Space.

 

Oslo, Norway. Designed by Snøhetta

With its sloping white-marble roof and delicate glass façade, Oslo’s National Opera House is a grand architectural statement—planting a flag for high culture on the Oslo waterfront—but more essentially it also creates a dramatic new public space in the heart of the city. The stone terraces run from the shore to the building, where they’re integrated into the roof of much of the complex, a series of steep, angled planes for adventurous pedestrians and pre-theater crowds. 1 Kirsten Flagstads Plass; 47-2/142-2100; operaen.no

T+L Design Awards 2009

© Mark Joseph Carandang

 

I got contacted by the publication recently about usage of my above photo and a few correspondences later, voila! I’m getting my photos out there.  Flickr is a good thing. See the entire T+L Design Awards 2009 slideshow here.