Happy Halloween!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween weekend! 


I certainly did. Delicious Halloween themed dinner at a good friend's house, going all out with my costume, dancing all night...it was so much fun! I was Lumiere the Candlestick from Beauty and the Beast. It was one of htose costumes where no one got it right away and then when I explained they were like "ooooh!" It definitely ranks as one of my favorite costumes. 


What were you for Halloween? 

Boo on the spaghetti- I love it! 

Be Our Guest!

Also in case you missed it here is the fabulous Heidi Klum looking amazingly creepy at her Halloween party: 

Halloween Countdown: Haunted Dollhouse

Growing up I loved doll houses. First I had a Fisher-Price plastic one and then when I was older I was lucky enough to have a beautiful, hand-made doll house. I still love doll houses- which is why when I came across Jenny Lawson's work I had to share it.


Jenny (aka the Bloggess) has a haunted doll house. She has been working on it for over 10 years and it is one of the most amazing and intricate doll houses I've ever seen! 


Everything in the doll house is not only spooky in some way but most things have been inspired by fantasy books or films. You can see more of the doll house here but below are some of my favorite parts 

Fairy Skeleton: Cause of Death- Disbelief 

The Attic- can you spy Hedwig in the back? 

A dragon's egg hatching as a raven looks on. I personally think this one is a reference to Game of Thrones but I'm not sure

The bedroom has the sword from Narnia hanging above the bed and the dog from Nightmare Before Christmas 

The bookshelf opens to reveal a secret passage....

Such beautiful and intricate work! It is the perfect Halloween dollhouse. I wish I could shrink myself and wander around in it. 

Thanks to Jennifer at TheBloggess and Kitsy.com for sharing!

Halloween Countdown: All Hallow's Read

Halloween already has candy, trick-or-treating, haunted houses, costumes...what more does it need?

All Hallow's Read- that is what it needs!

Inspired by the genius that is Neil Gaiman (and if you don't know who he is you  better find out fast or we might not be able to be friends) is a wonderful new Halloween Tradition that I am SO excited to share with you! Because remember I get excited about things.

The idea behind All Hallow's Read is to give someone a scary book on or around Halloween. The options are quite literally endless. You've got your R.L. Stine, Steven King, about a million Vampire Books, ghost stories, Gothic novels, murder mysteries, the list goes on and on. 

So this year in addition to giving trick-or-treats...give a book! 

You can find out more information at http://www.allhallowsread.com/  and here is a little more insight to the inspiration behind it.


I am going to give someone special a spooky Stephen King novel (haven't decided which one yet) and Hollowland by Amanda Hocking. Ok full disclosure- Hollowland might really be for me but if I give it to someone then I can borrow it/steal their kindle and read it myself. In case you haven't heard of it Hollowland is a really cool sounding Zombie book. I have never, ever read a zombie book and was never really that interested but I read an excerpt from this one and it had me hooked.  So we'll see. If I like it I'll check out the sequel Hollowmen. This is also my first Amanda Hocking book- really looking forward to it. 


What book are you giving for All Hallow's Read? And who are you giving it to?


ps if you seriously don't know who Neil Gaiman is do yourself a favor and read Stardust . American Gods is next on my Gaiman must read list. 

 

HAPPY ALL HALLOW'S READ! 

Halloween Countdown: Trick-or-Treat!

Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year. I love dressing up and all the Halloween movies and carving pumpkins- everything about it.


In honor of Halloween from now till October 31st all of the Daily Good Things will be Halloween related.


To kick things off here are two great Trick-or-Treating scenes from two great movies. The first is from one of my favorite Halloween movies- Hocus Pocus

I so want to be her for Halloween one year!

And here is the Trick-or-Treating scene from the classic movie E.T. - 

That has to be of the best moments in Halloween cinematic history. Makes me want to re-watch E.T. right now.

Do you have any favorite trick-or-treat scenes from movies?

live in the sunshine

floating in the sunshine in the south china sea 

beyond big wave bay in hong kong 

Dragon's Back in Hong Kong

with my sister at my favorite beach on maui 

getting offline

Oh the Internet- keeping us all so connected. Email, twitter, facebook, blogging...it is all great but sometimes it is nice just to unplug and get offline. I spend most of my days at work looking at a computer and then when I get home I will also spend another hour or two looking at a computer. I spent all day yesterday unplugged- left my phone at home, didn't open my computer- it was glorious. Made me kind of feel like I was on vacation. Brought a camera to document my day but the battery died- oh well- just one less screen to look at during the day :)

Slept in, tried a new Mexican restaurant for lunch that had awesome gauc, went to an afternoon matinee to see Friends with Benefits which was great, went up to the peak and found an amazing park that actually has grassy fields (so rare in HK), read for a few hours in the park which might be my new favorite place, hiked around for a bit enjoying the incredible views, went to Mongkok and thrifted for potential halloween costumes, and then finished the day with an Indian feast at a great spot in Causeway bay. Came home and was tempted to go online but instead curled up in bed with a book. 

Now I feel relaxed and rejuvenated and it I still have a whole day left in the weekend.

Overlooking Times Square in Hong Kong 

street crossing outside of Sogo in Causeway- very crowded

now that I've found a park I can combine 2 of my favorite things- books and tress! 

ode to the nerds

This pretty much sums me up 

grumpy nerd in the jungle

 but actually really happy because I am hiking one of my favorite hikes in Hong Kong wearing a tank top from Laos and shorts from my alum UC Davis

-all things I am pretty enthusiastic about

Other things I am "nerdy" about (aka get way to excited over)

-travel

-books

-good food

-mexican food in particular (missing this!) 

-DIM SUM

-writing

-cooking

-researching trips

-local art that reminds me of places I've been 

-foreign films

-chinese literature

-China in general
-taking pictures 

-wet markets

-hong kong's dai pai dongs

-hiking

-teasets

-any kind of outdoor market
-fresh mozzarella
-autumn leaves (really missing this in HK) 

-bamboo

-tress in general. I really, really love trees 

-fantasy fiction

-dystopian fiction

-when people who didn't like to read discover the book that makes them a reader
-ice cream
-waterfalls
-spicy sichuan food 
-dressing in costume

-libraries 
-dancing badly with lots of hair flipping

-board games

-dailygoodthing 

What gets your inner nerd going? 

a picture worth a thousand words

I am recently LOVING artwork that uses actual words as the medium.  I fell in love these posters that print whole chapters or an entire book on the back of them. Going the opposite direction Vietnamese artist Huy Lam's beautiful portraits that are completely created using one or two words over and over again 

Van Gogh was created using the word "Genius"

Bob Marley, One Love

And for the one and only Marilyn Monroe- her supposed dimensions. An impressive 36-24-37 

Heath Ledger is immortalized in his famous role as the Joker using the words "Such a Shame"

They are all amazing (and you can check out more of Huy Lam's art here ) but my favorite is definitely the Van Gogh

I really want to try to re-create this style using one of my own photos. I'll post it when I do :)

Daily good thing- discovering awesome art 

Kenya is calling...

I love living in Hong Kong and feeling like I have all of Asia at my fingertips to explore and adventure in. And while I am living in Hong Kong I am dedicated to using my resources and time towards traveling in this part of the world (trips home to California being the exception). 


Then I'll stumble across this and immediately start dreaming about going to Kenya. Can you blame me?

Photo by Mathilde Guillemot 

Photo by Billy Dodson 


Photo by Jonathan P. Howard 

Someday I'll go and see it all for myself- but for now these gorgeous photos will have to do. 

Tai Tam Gap

Tai Tam Gap Hike

Take the MTR to Tai Koo and then follow the signs to Wilson Trail Stage 2.  Urban terrain mixed with green rolling hills and bridges that look like they are from medieval times. Happy trails! 

Go with the Flow

I love all kinds of books but ones from a secondhand bookshop have a certain kind of specialness. It is like two stories- the story the book is telling and then the story of the actual physical book. 

Several months ago with a very good friend I discovered my own local secondhand bookshop:

The shop was actually closed but we browsed the stacks of books that were outside in the hall. Since then I have gone back several times and now plan on making it a weekly or bi-weekly thing. 

so many books crammed into such a tiny space!

Flow is literally overflowing with books...

Flow is located on Hollywood road on the 7th floor of the building right across from the crosswalk. Erm I'll come back with a more exact address tomorrow :) 

My book haul this week:

Anne of Green Gables is a childhood favorite that I am really looking forward to re-reading.

Anything by Joyce Carol Oates is always great- I'm sure I'll Take You There  will be no exception. 

Somehow in all my years as a booklover I'd never read The Bridges of Madison County before. I actually started and finished it this morning. Such a beautiful book. Now I want to see the movie! 

Very excited about The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters as she is one of the authors I want to start reading more of. This is actually from Dymocks Bookstore. Reading it with my little bookclub in Hong Kong. Since it is a ghost story that takes place in England we are planning on discussing it at a British restaurant right around Halloween.

I have heard SO many good things about The Magicians by Lev Grossman- absolutely can't wait to start it!!

Overall a very good weekend for books!

“Analysis destroys wholes. Some things, magic things, are meant to stay whole. If you look at their pieces, they go away.”- The Bridges of Madison County  

High in the Hong Kong Sky

View of  Hong Kong from the 118th floor of the Ritz Carlton 

For a truly spectacular view of the Hong Kong skyline go to Ozone at the top of the new ICC building in Kowloon. Try and go on a clear night- the views are amazing. Plus there is no door fee- just buy a drink or a snack once you are in there. Everything is relatively reasonably priced as well (considering you are at a sky high bar in the Ritz Carlton). Non-alcoholic and alcoholic drinks can be found for around HK$110-HK$120 (about 14-16 USD). 

I recommend going on a week night so it isn't as crowded and you can get a spot by the window. The decor is a little over the top- bright flashing neon moon lights that change from red to green to blue and back again. But I'm there for the view- not the interior design. Service is good but can be a little snooty- and remember that for men no t-shirts or flipflops. 

To get there you can either take a cab directly to the ICC or take the MTR to Kowloon station. 

Overlooking our city 

I can never get enough of Hong Kong's incredible skyline and this is one of the best ways to see it. Yep- I'm head over heels for Hong Kong 

Living Bridges

I thought that these treehouses were pretty amazing but I came across these beauties and they absolutely blew me away....

Living tree root bridges. They can be found in one of the wettest places on earth- Cherrapunji India. 

The bridges are made from the roots of the ficus elastica tree and actually get stronger as time goes on. They   take over 10 years to be fully functional but then you have strong sturdy bridges that can support up to 50 people or more at a time. 

Find out more about these miraculous living bridges here 


Serious travel-lust to see these gorgeous natural creations in real life. I've never been to India but I would love to go and when I do I will make sure to go to Cherruapunji. 


So many beautiful places to see in our world - I love having so much to look forward to and so many places to daydream about going. 




PS- This also gave me some serious inspiration for one of the settings for my work-in-progress...doesn't it look like the perfect setting for a fantasy story?