A taste of Japan Fashion Week

BLOUSE:PINKO
PLEATHER PANTS:NORDSTROM
BOOTIES:TOPSHOP

What is it with March Madness? The To-Do list never seems to end! However, there is always time to stop and smell the... fashion :) It is Japan Fashion Week here in Tokyo and it was just the therapy I needed. I stepped out with some friends and caught up on Fall 2012 Collections. Wednesday night we went to Christian Dada and Thursday it was Mononari Ono. I was introduced to Christian Dada last Fashion Week and was equally impressed as last season, although this Fall Collection was much more wearable than the antlers and cages worn in the last show :).  Thursday's Mononari Ono show was amazing, and I have a new found love affair with a few of the pieces.

I actually changed things up this time and went with video. I am using some of the footage for a Documentary project I am working on and will share it on my blog once that is complete. However, I  quickly switched back to my camera to capture this faux fur beauty.

It was great to step away from March Madness Mania for a few hours, catch up with friends and get a taste of JFW.

DIY With INSTAGRAMS Photos

Do you love INSTAGRAM? Well, who doesn't right? We see these awesome photos all over our Facebook newsfeeds, Twitter, favorite blogs, and all love how they can make an otherwise "normal" picture into WOW factor. I love taking pictures with my Canon, but I feel like I have been cheating on her lately with my favorite I-phone app. If fact, I like the effects of Instagram so much that I have been making fun little projects out of it. They are great for interior design touches, greeting cards and recently I made a couple "Hobby" cards. If you have a fun hobby, i.e blogging, photography, cooking, sewing etc, you may want a fun contact card to share with friends or other like-minded people. 

I downloaded a few of my Instagram photos and embedded them into Adobe Illustrator, added a few effects and BAM :) A fun little Contact card for the Blog. I have separate business cards for professional reasons, but it is always fun to spice things up a little. So for your next Instagram photo opp, think outside the newsfeed and have fun with it.

Ohara School of Ikebana

 I have wanted to take an Ikebana class ever since moving to Japan. Ikebana is  a 600 year old traditional Japanese flower arrangement practice. Each stem, leaf and flower is placed strategically, emphasizing strict guidelines to shape, lines and forms.

A friend and I found the Ohara School of Ikebana in Minami Aoyama (my new neighborhood) and booked a class to test out our Ikebana skills. We had such a great time and learned a lot just from one session. The Sensei was extremely informative and we learned the basics about SUBJECT flowers, OBJECT flowers, FILLERS and symmetry.

I look forward to our next class and sharing some basic pointers about Ikebana!

Beautiful arrangement by an upper class student

Guide describing angles, width, height and depth of subject, objects and fillers.

SCHOOL of Ikebana

My first arrangement

Another Student's arrangement. I LOVE THIS!

Burnt Orange, Stripes and Navy

        Burnt ORANGE Pea coat, STRIPED sheer turtleneck sweater, and my new favorite NAVY, long sheer maxi skirt. Because it is time to sport some color people! Spring is on it's way and black shall be put away ...

Pea coat: Ralph Lauren (thanks MOM)

turtleneck: Jean Paul Gaultier

Maxi Skirt: OZOC

Sunnies: Michael Kors

Junkadelic in Akasaka

It is the last week that I will be living in Akasaka. We are moving to a new neighborhood, Aoyama, and we can't wait! However, I will miss our neighborhood Mexican spot that was just a hop, skip and a jump. Thanks for the Margaritas JUNKADELIC! we won't see you as often, but we will see ya soon.