Our lucky intern got this brand new Smart Car as her graduation gift. I couldn't resist so she took me for a spin. It's so small, it looks like a toy. However, it is surprisingly spacious inside. I love it but I don't think it's practical if this is the only car for a person. I'm not sure if I feel safe driving this little thing on a high way at 70 mph next to all the regular size cars. I wonder how it drives in winter weather. I'll let someone else be the test dummy.
Looks like spring is finally here. It is rather late this year. I think this week is the short little window one gets to enjoy the explosion of spectacular flowers blooming in white, red, pink and yellow on trees and bushes. Beautiful bright green of new leafs and fresh grass appears overnight. This is the first Spring for us in our house, so we're discovering the flowering plants in the yard. They are so beautiful. I'm terrible at names of flowers and plants and I can't begin to tell you what's all in our garden. However, I clipped a little branch to bring the season into the house. It is raining outside, and before we know it, our grass in the yard is knee high! Fun.
There's a Robot in our dining room! This is my latest art acquisition for the house. It is a hand signed limited edition silkscreen by Brian Flynn. (4/25). 40.5" x 35". The fun part is, it glows in the dark. Since I our dining room has huge floor to ceiling panels of windows, I framed the artwork with a UV protection glass. Now I'm not sure if the artwork will glow in the dark anymore since the UV was filtered out by the glass. What type of light charges the glow-in-the-dark phosphors? Visible light or UV light? Anyone?
These pictures were taken during the shoot for UMKC TV commercial on March 12. It was very chilly morning, and the breeze made it even more unbearable. Just when I was cursing internally on how long and dreary this winter was, I looked up the sky and there was a group of Canadian Geese flying in V formation, heading Northward. I guess that was a sign of hope that Spring is finally here!
The rest of the pictures are just the skateboarder in the commercial, doing his jump. This young kid was totally fearless! And I, on the other hand, cringed at every jump he made.
Update: Please visit www.umkc.edu/getalife to check out the really cool spots.
I came back from lunch today and sitting at the front desk of my office was this crazy big Valentine gift. It was a huge stuffed with a rose in it's mouth, and above it was 10 huge helium balloons in the shape of roses. And it was for me! I opened the envelope and inside was a hand-made card that said, To my sweet Michael from Superman, written with glue and glitter! Superman!? Clark Kent? Who could that be? I had tried to investigate as much as I could but I still could not figure it out. So whoever you are, Superman, thank you for such a thoughtful gift but please reveal yourself before I go crazy. How bizarre!
It was only a month ago that I posted the beautiful Fall color pictures, and now, Nature gave us a little change of scenery - Ice! Even though we didn't get hit as bad as the one in 2002, it still affected many homes in the area. I hope that if we're going to get any precipitation for the rest of the winter, please let it be snow!
No matter how many times I've experienced the beauty of the fall season each year, I'm still amazed by the vivid range of colors that nature brings us. Just like many wonderful things, these moments only last for a short time. I have to remind myself to appreciate the moment. Soak it in. Better yet, snap a few digital pics and post them on the blog so others could experience it, too.
Yesterday we had our annual pumpkin carving party at Tom and Mark's. Although I didn't win the best pumpkin, I think my creation was pretty original. Mine was inspired by the new Sprint Center in Downtown Kansas City. It looks fabulous when lit because you can see lights from all 360 degrees. It creates a very nice pattern around it!
It seems like six weeks had passed at a blink since I posted the last entry. The warm weather is finally changing and so are the leafs. It went up to about 80 today despite the fact that it'll be Halloween in a week!
Here are some pictures of our living and dining room of our house, which is not so new now since we've already moved in for 2 months.
Things happen for a reason. I was rather disappointed after the Central Project went away and decided to start exploring other options. We looked at a some lots and some other houses. After having our mind set for such a long time on building and totally customize everything in our house, it's difficult to find any existing that suits our needs, and in an ideal location, that is within our budget. Then we found this mid-century modern home, built by the original owner, who was an architect. We knew as we walked in that it has our names written all over it. Fast forward to today: I sold my home bought this house, and had moved into it for 3 weeks already. Now when I looked back, it just went by so quickly that it's all a blur, but within it was a ton of stress selling and closing on my house, working on loans and buying the house, and packing and moving and unpacking...all in 60 days! So, here the destination that we ended up which we don't even know it existed when we started the journey of building our dream home. Even though this house was not built by us, it's certainly a dream come true because it reflects our design sensibility. The best of it, at this moment, we're already living in it and enjoying it!
Today is like 1984, the year Macintosh was introduced. Just like the Mac has revolutionized desktop computers, the iPhone has revolutionized mobile phones; not only mobile phones, but touch-screen technology! I was totally fascinated by the user interface and how natural and tactile the touch screen experience, I didn't even pay too much attention to the feature of the phone. I remember when Steve Job first showed the "pinching" gesture to zoom and out of a page, I was floored. That was a "Minority Report" moment and I had been waiting to try it with my own fingers since then and I have to say, I am absolutely impressed! My good friend Cello and his wife each bought one today. I longingly looked at the bag in their hands, and wished I have that kind of a disposable income to drop $500 for a super-cool phone just like that. One thing I'm afraid of is that the a year from now, Apple will come out with an even cooler model! When is it going to end? I did feel a little embarrassed calling with my Motorola PEBL, which seems really cool when I first got it. Now my PEBL is more like a fossil.
By the way, this photo was taken at the Apple Store using PhotoBooth on one of the iMacs and e-mailed to myself. How fun!
Eric, Suba and I went to the Great American Barbecue out in Kansas City Kansas today. Right before the torrential rain, we manage to experience the close up look at the hot air balloon display at the event. The spectators were all like kids again, fascinated by these gigantic colorful balloons, glowing in the twilight.
I just want to post this beautiful Peony that I took near my house a few days ago for my mom. She absolutely adores flowers and it's hard not to hear her gasp in my head whenever I see beautiful flowers in the spring. Happy Mother's Day, mom!
The party must go on! Despite the little mishap, I went to the annual DIIFFA - Dining by Design charity event which many of my peers were the designers for the tables. This years tables were extremely beautiful. And Suba got a Herman Miller Eames Rocker from the silent auction for a great deal. Will came back to Kansas City for this event, and we all had a great time. Here are some of my favorites. I particularly liked HNTB's table designed by my friend Wes. It was the minimal yet well designed. The table was a big light box and there were cutout circles for the wine glasses, plates and vases, so everything was under lit. There were also projectors hidden under the table that projected images onto the ceiling panels and there were two walls on each end of the table and both projected images onto the other side. And of cause, the table was sexier thanks to the beautiful Philippe Starck's Hudson Chairs. Bravo to all the designers. A bunch of us at at Kevin and Jonathan's bird theme table and the reported from the Kansas City Star loved it and took a few photos of us at the table for the People's section. First the SPACES magazine and now the Star. We're going to be over exposed!
