I Heart Anthropologie

A browse through the Anthropologie website always ellicits sighs from me. Gorgeous furniture and textile compositions, outfit ideas that delicately balance the elegant with rusticity and bohemia.

This season I am in love with the artistry of their jewellery line.

After THAT weekend

The good news:

1) Someone took a good look at our financial situation and the end result was validation, not to mention relief

2) We met quite a few mature, successful and interesting folks our age whom we'd love to continue to get to know. People outside of our working lives, who have similar goals and sensibilities. People whom we can learn from and share experiences with. I met someone my age who took a two-year career break to pursue her passion. When will I have the guts to do the same?

3) Our direction is clear - relocate, liquidate some of our paper assets and dive into a brand new, exciting venture. Our age and and where we are financially means that we possess just the right risk appetites and financial muscle (if we do say so ourselves) to be able to do this. Guess we should start counting our blessings more often.

The bad news? None, really.

For myself and myself alone, all of this has invigorated me somewhat. Make no mistake, I am still down on the fact that we are where we are (actual location). And the pull is now stronger than ever. But at least it gives me something to look forward to - and importantly, to plan for and move towards, that independence and giving up a cushy job to pursue something I truly want to do is not an impossibility.

We just have to lay the foundation, and I guess you could say we have been laying it for some time now - working offshore and not spending as much money as some of our peers, staying in this rural township, renting instead of buying, and getting into investment before we reach our 30's. Here's hoping for that big leap (or two), for better things to come.

Just because it's not yours...

So we just came back from a rather grueling (physically, and yes, financially) 3-day seminar that was supposed to help us make better financial decisions and grow rich by investing in real estate. One of the tips the speaker gave was to rent, not buy, for the first fifteen years of your married/attached (in our case) life - RENT, don't buy to free up loan capacity, i.e. property investment. It's all about the amortization and paying interests etc etc...too boring really to bring up here. This bummed me out a bit because I was so looking forward to having a house of our own - one that I can design and decorate to my hearts content - you know, white silestone countertops, breakfast island counter, teak dining table, chandelier.........shopping trips to Malacca and Bangkok.. :( But the POINT here, my dears, is to make sacrifices (?) so that we don't have to be chained to our careers, and so that I can one day do something I want to do, not have to do, and lead a comfortable, if slightly luxurious life. So the grand dreams (plans) when we move back (please please please) to buy a place is on the shelf for now. So what do I do to cheer myself up? I check out what's in the rental market! Some prospects I am liking:

- Le Chateau, that looks like it's in the middle of nowhere (Bukit Seputeh) - love the size and price, and the greenery outside!!

- Suria Jelatek - nice location (middle of the city Ampang), infinity pool, newer development and very reasonably priced considering these features (helloooo...i. Plenty of units up for rent which means that I can take my pick.

- Tropicana Tropics - right above a pretty new mall, and nice modern and new facilities - gym, pool, shopping!! And so much choice, all vying for our attention..

- Sri Putramas off Jalan Kuching - the landscaping looks gorgeous, prices are kinda in between, still rather reasonable for the location

- Changkat View off Jalan Duta - nicely renovated, OK-looking view, you can get it with airconditioning, fully fitted out kitchen, water heater and everything. Although come to think of it AK and I have our own air conditioners and heaters - which probably means that we can get a lesser furnished place for a cheaper price. Sweet!

The good thing about the recent property craze is the huge glut of condominiums that KL will have in one to two years..all the better for people like us looking to rent. I fully expect us to be totally spoilt for choice.

This is dilemma I truly wish to grapple with..sigh.

Around the Pink City

Shopping like maniacs in the old city of Jaipur.

Please

Dear Lord,

I pray that you will hear me.

I have never wanted this more than I want it now.

I have always been happy, even grateful for the situation.

But not now.

We want OUT, more than anything right now. Not a day goes by when I don't dream of it, and the more I stay the more I resent it.

Please hear us.

Colours of India

Seeing, Smelling, Shopping, Reading, Cooking INDIA!!!

Crawford Market, Mumbai

A friend returned from India and, when sharing her FB photos, titled the album "Indescribable India!!" I wish I thought of it - India is without a doubt, a land of contradictions.

She will at once inspire and despair.

She will invigorate and infuriate.

The cheap, beautifully made goods that tempt you from every corner. But you walk on by, for fear that the shopkeeper, already shaking his head at you and saying "Look only!", will haggle and intimidate you into buying something you never wanted.

The beggar lady and her children who will touch your feet and talk nonstop, gesturing to her mouth. You flinch at her touch and feel disgusted at yourself later. Out of guilt perhaps you over-tip your rickshaw driver.

You are endlessly fascinated by all the COLOURS and gild worn by the Indian women - bright pinks and turquoises, soft pastels and pure white, silver thread and gold sequins, glass beads, pleats and folds. And the jewellery! The more the better - shops specialising in bangles alone, and the women wearing armfuls of them. Enamelled earrings, gold filigree necklaces, bells on ankets, nose studs. But somehow it never feels gaudy, just really well put-together, sometimes regal, sometimes funky, always a beautiful sight.

In Mumbai, you were taken in by the crumbling colonial buildings that, if you simply bothered to look hard enough, are simply beautiful. And how could you not, being a downright sucker for colonial architechture? Wrought iron gratings, red brick, grey sandstone, curly white grilles like the windows of Paris or Basque country, gargoyles(!) at the Victoria Terminus, the Indian-themed scene in stone above the entrance to the Crawford Market.

You read Indian Vogue and Indian Elle, and love the the looks by their designers and how the Indian fashion elite so comfortably, so seamlessly blend their local designers and the Indian aesthetic with Roberto Cavalli,- and I do so love that they do this - Gap and Zara. So much so that you regret sacrificing your copy of Vogue India for a little more luggage space :(

I come away from this place feeling like I have to go again, that I have barely scratched the surface. I want to visit the golden city of Jaisalmer, climb the Meragarh fort and swoon on the Udaipur lake palace. Less shopping (maybe).

I would love to take more time in Mumbai, not to mention visit Chennai just for this fascinating and downright inspiring shop. I really love the Indian aesthetic.

In the meantime, I maintain my Indian fixation by reading The Holy Cow, which really isn't that great but an interesting read nonetheless - simply reinforcing the fact that there really is so much more to see and hear and feel in India. I also just took in an order for Maximum City, a highly acclaimed book (and hopefully something a bit more eloquent) about Mumbai, or Bombay, as some say is its more romantic name (I think Mumbai is cooler and more modern-Indian *shrug*), and am waiting for the arrival of India Contemporary, a modern Indian interior decor book (can't wait!).

And other than drinking Chai tea, I served a humble little Indian spread last weekend. I leafed through Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cooking, and decided on Tandoori Chicken, Spinach with Onions and Dhal.

The chicken, marinated overnight in yogurt, homemade garam masala (also from the book), was tender and perhaps could have done with a little more spice. The flavour of the dhal, enhanced with toasted fennel seeds and chilli powder, was wonderfully savoury and "meaty". The spinach with onions - so simple to make, and again could have used more spice. Perhaps Jaffrey's recipes were toned down to suit a milder western palate, but she teaches some great techniques.