A New Website!

Hi Everyone!  In an attempt to be more creative, productive, and organized - I've moved my blog, personal website, and portfolio under one roof at mimishim.com.  Come join me there and sign up for the Newsletter of my happenings and inspirations... I can't wait to share with you and already made one blog post... happy summer xoxo!

Wearable Spaces

I just discovered interiors by the Michaela Scherrer Interior Design firm and am blown away at the light and airy feel of these spaces.  The rooms feel as if you can wear them...  I love the use of fabric and light as well as the unexpected details - especially in the modern kitchen trough sink with sliding cutting boards.  Her spaces are warm and inviting yet minimal... amazing to see!

All images via www.michaelascherrer.com 

Cantilever lamp & teenage daydreaming

A long time ago I read in one of those cheesy horoscope books and pored over the romantic matches that are best for my sun sign, Pisces.  This was in my late teens when I had all the time in the world and therefore spent it on astrology.  I think I needed something or someone (besides my parents) telling me that I was not going to be a gawky awkward person forever and find love.  Now I realize that a lot of those astrological personality descriptions can apply to many people - but one thing in particular still stands out in my mind.  Pisces (woman) and Taurus (man) are supposed to be a good match - one of the reasons being that a Taurus guy can materialize a Pisces's gal's ideas.

I have found this to be true especially during Mr. Z and my home furnishing endeavors.  There have been several ideas I've had that he made physically possible.  Most recently, this cantilever lamp...

We needed a light above our dining table but didn't want to bother with mounting a light on the ceiling and dealing with electrical issues.  Instead it's mounted on the wall, and the switch is the little aluminum box on the cord that turns the light on with the tap of a finger.  We also wanted the light to be moveable like a swinging articulating arm, and the cord fittings can be loosened to allow the light position to be adjusted up and down.

It took a while for this lamp to be finished because Mr. Z was waiting to use our friend Daniel's workshop (Autumn Workshop).  At one point Mr. Z shaved off the tip of his ring finger trying to cut one of the wood pieces for the wall mount!  The accident delayed the project even more, but luckily he still has all 10 fingers.  During the interim, the lamp went through a few shade revisions.  Since the cantilever and wall mount weren't done yet, we used a mic stand to prop up the frame and light.  At first we wrapped the frame with a black twill tape but found it to be too dark.  We decided paper would diffuse light the best, so I drafted a simple 2 piece triangle pattern out of plain paper and stapled it to the frame as a mock-up.  The final shade is made out of rice paper sewn together.  Sometimes you just need to live with something for a while to know what to do, you know?

Vena's sister Viva getting over the winter bleus

I can't help but feel refreshed after visiting Vena Cava's sister Viva Vena.  At the office, we were just talking about how it's so hard to get up and get motivated this time of the year.  Well, Viva's collection did just that - now I feel completely awake and ready for adventures how ever small or large they may be.

And how great is it that Viva is also friendlier to your bank account?  Thanks Lisa and Sofie!

Arrangeable wall

The wall where the TV hangs is a tricky one to hang art on - sort of a visual waste of space.  I was inspired by this post at Lovely Life and decided that something like it would be a perfect solution to display coffee table books and album covers - or just about anything.  It's sort of an ever changing wall that you curate.  It really completes the space, don't you think?

Thanks to our friends Daniel and Pat at Autumn Workshop we have our very own Arrangeable Wall.

Stay-cation round-up

I had lofty goals for my vacation at home, wanting to pretend that I'm a tourist in the city I live in.  It turned out that even though I hardly left Brooklyn or did much that would interest visitors, not a moment of it was wasted.  I spent time with friends, splurged on treats and sparkly drinks, ate at my favorite restaurants, and of course cuddled with the kitties and watched movies.  Oh, I also started several creative projects which I will share here once they have progressed.  Here's a Instagram round up of the last days of 2012!  Cheers to an inspiring 2013!

A view from a room

It's dreaded gray today and the view from my apartment is very flat and dull, leaving me feeling heavy.  This weather has me longing for spring when the trees explode with these gigantic white flowers.  Last year I took these photos but they don't exactly reflect the brightness I felt when looking at them for a month... but you get the idea.  For some reason these trees made me want to throw a wedding!

Merry (belated) x-mas!

I really wanted to post this yesterday - I really did!  But I had a little too much wine and champagne at a dinner party on the eve.  Most of the day yesterday was spent napping and watching Christmas movies.  I think I would have done that regardless of the hangover.  Our neighborhood was silent and quite peaceful according to Mr. Z - I didn't step out at all.  Here are some festive photos of my block taken on the eve.  I really  love living here... it looks like what I think Paris would look like.

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

Stay-cation

I think about 3-4 years ago, I realized that travel during the holiday time is a stress I don't need to put myself through.  Something about the impending bad weather and flying at the same time as everyone else in the world seems like asking for trouble.  Why not see family and old friends during the summer months?

Since my stay-cation has officially started after lazing on the couch for 2 days - I'm making mental notes of the things I would do if I were visiting New York during the holidays.  I find myself taking this city for granted sometimes and need to fall in love again...  Another one of my goals this year is to be more active on this blog, so why not start it now with a mini personal holiday tour in NYC?  Of course now the challenge is to do some interesting things and not revert back to my usual series watching junkie behavior.  It'll be a fun challenge!  I think I'll start with going to the MET today, as I've heard they are showing Matisse's work.  Oh, and the Regarding Andy Warhol, Sixty Artists and 50 Years exhibition looks pretty interesting too - I love Cindy Sherman's work.

Wish me luck... and happy Christmas eve ~! :-*

Images via www.metmuseum.org

the Original Street Photographer

Last night I cozied up with the hub, a bottle of red wine, and watched Bill Cunningham New York, and am so inspired!  Do yourself a favor and watch it during your long weekend this Thanksgiving holiday.  I hope that I can be as spritely and as enthusiastic about my work as Bill someday.

Oh, and Happy Turkey Day!

Images from here, here, here, and here

Cat tower scratch pad

Being the crazy cat lady that I am, I've been searching for a decent looking cat tower for quite some time now.  Finally, I found Whisker Studio.  They have a customizable "Elevation Modular Cat Tower".  What I like most about this tower is that it doesn't take up too much space, including the base.  The kidney shaped shelves make it look more like a decorative sculpture than a cat tower, and the usage of IKEA parts make it really accessible as a DIY.  Taking it one step further, I decided to wrap the pole with rope so that it doubles as a scratcher too.  Hopefully now they will leave our new chair alone!

We're alive!

We are alive ~ and so is this blog :-P  It's been a really long time since my last post, so yes, this blog and I are still alive.

As you already probably have heard, Hurricane Sandy swept across the east coast last night.  Luckily Mr. Z and I are ok and didn't experience anything really...  We don't live in an evacuation zone since we are more inland and on a hill.  Aside from the loud banging of the roof top door due to heavy winds and the internet going out, our hurricane experience was pretty boring.  A part of me wished to see a tree break at least!  All of this preparation and waiting makes one wish for a finale of fireworks or something, you know?

I heard a lot of wind and trees being pushed around, but that's about it.  Mr. Z claims that he saw the sky light up when the ConEd plant blew up on 14th St. but, I didn't see it.  Everyone is out and about in our neighborhood now and I even think the small 24 hour grocery store on our block stayed open through it all.  We did have the news on all night and watched things other people in the area were going through.  My heart goes out to those people who have suffered loss.  It's amazing what people are capable of when things are dire, and seeing people come together to help each other really brought tears to my eyes.  I almost felt like those things happened to me!  ... Which is why I try not to watch the news too much.  I think Mr. Z does enough keeping up with that for the both of us.

This morning, we decided to take a walk to Dumbo, since we were both stir crazy from being in our apartment for almost 2 days.  It seemed safe enough at first but we ended up drenched from random rainfall, 40 mins. from our apartment :(  but at least we got some pics of the aftermath in a small part of Brooklyn.  Mr. Z took these photos for the memory bank.