thailand in review -- part one

photo in the courtyard of wat pho. photo by nicole block, all rights reserved.

hey everyone! i know i've been back for a few days now without posting about the trip. so i'm here to make up for it.

thing is, my nikon d40 camera was lost/stolen in bangkok, in the last few days of our trip. so, not only did i lose my wonderful camera, i lost all the photos on it. all 1000. trip and otherwise... sniff, sniff... thankfully, we still had another small digital with us, which we had used a bit before we lost the nikon. and we used it daily after we lost the nikon. so we still have pics, just not as good and not as complete. here's a pic of me with it in chiang mai...


moving on... here's part one of the trip info:

thailand is a great place to visit. there's a ton to do, and also ample opportunity to just sit back and relax. we do love a good, involved travel, so it was great for that. while not a re-visit place in my books, it was an interesting trip and well worth it.

travel in thailand is cheap, even if plane tickets cost a lot. we did a ton of stuff and ate like pigs for 2 weeks on the budget of a couple of days in europe. the accommodations are plentiful and inexpensive. our favorite place was the "middle-grade" guest house in bangkok, bann sukhumvit, which ran us a whopping $45 a night with full breakfast included. we also stayed at a friendly and informative guest house in chiang mai for $22 a night and a least-favorite resort on the beach in krabi for $75 a night. if anyone wants references for the accommodations, let me know.

bangkok -- fun, but large and crowded, city. I really enjoyed it to be honest, but the general thought process of most there seems to be that it's too crowded and polluted. guess being a NY'er, i didn't mind! lots of beautiful wats (temples) that are well-kept and worth visiting. plus you get to see monks, who i love! we loved chinatown there for some authentic daily-life sightseeing, and the food vendors on the streets are amazing (even if some do steal cameras). we also loved the canal trip on the other side of the river and going to the movies there! the most fun we had at night was at an ex-pat irish pub (it was the night i lost my camera, and i wanted to stay away from all things thai) called the dubliner. awesome, awesome place. great live music and good beer. though the burgers were weird and seasoned... but what can you expect from a burger in thailand? =D

photos above, from top: scary guys on the first level of wat arun, young monks walking around wat pho, and ladies doing business in chinatown, bangkok. all photos by nicole block, all rights reserved.

chiang mai -- country/city. quieter than bangkok, though plenty touristy. good place to do adventurous stuff from, so we went on an elephant trek, which is what all tourists do when they go to chiang mai. LOL... still, quite worth it, and so much fun. i now have a new love for elephants! two girls actually fell off their elephant in front of us, which i felt awful about, but they were unhurt and in good humor about it. we also saw a couple of elephants randomly being led into the city over the river, right in front of us on our walk back to the guest house. very odd!! once you go a little further into the city, you get away from some tourists and more into daily thai life, which is more interesting. there are very kind people in this town.
krabi -- beautiful, beautiful, beyond beautiful place on the coast. we stayed on ao nang beach, which is quite quite touristy but an easy jump-off for outings to the surrounds islands in the province. we took a kayaking trip through a mangrove forest off the coast (amazing trip, very peaceful and fun), and a full-day snorkeling and beach trip through the phi phi islands (where they filmed the beach). we also celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary in krabi on the 7th, with a seafood dinner in a restaurant right on the sand. some things that were interesting/fun: great, and i mean great, street food stalls, including an amazing bbq chicken/corn lunch and a yummy thai "pancake" with banana and condensed milk; these odd lanterns, made out of rice paper, that one lights and makes a wish on, and then sends up into the air. the lanterns take off on their own and wind up looking like constellations in the sky. seemingly traditional there.

canoe trip through the mangrove forest in krabi at top; on our snorkeling trip through ko phi phi. both photos by nicole block, all rights reserved.

lanterns being lit on a holiday in chiang mai, like the ones we saw daily in krabi (top photo courtesy of the travel blog, bottom from travel happy.)

adrienne & andrew

here it is! the premiere of new work for the new wedding season. today's premiere features adrienne and andrew's invitation suite.

these lovely people are getting married at a working farm in rochester, ny. the farm is known for it's fruit and fruit-picking seasons, and they use a lot of french antique tablecloths in their barn-like setting. the couple desired to have the invitations in bright-summer red and orange, and to include the seasonal fruits. after taking a look at the pictures of the location, as well as getting to know the couple and their intended event, we finally decided on a vintage-french-plate feel with a rustic edge. i mixed a western-style font with classic serif and script typefaces to achieve the final effect.

i hope you enjoy this suite! adrienne and andrew are incredibly kind people and a great couple to work with, and this job was a dream to work on.

happy dating-versary to us!

today is tax day, yes... but it's also dave & my dating-versary! as of today we've been together for 8 years. and last week was our 2nd wedding anniversary. we've got a lot of celebrating to do!

yes, some people forgo their old anniversaries once the wedding anniversaries come along. but why? things deserve to be marked. and tonight's anniversary will be marked by homemade lamb ragu. yum!

i love you a lot baby. happy 8 years...

the two of us in thailand

and happy birthday lauren!!!

back in action

hello everyone!! i'm back! did'ya miss me? =D

i have a lot to talk about and almost no time. i'll be putting together a big post about thailand and our travels in a bit. in the meantime, i just wanted to say that i am back and raring to go!

i hope to hear from you guys all soon.

love,
nic

off to thailand!

well, it's time for me to say goodbye! i'll be going to my brother's place tonight so that he can take us to the airport in the morning, and then we're off to thailand!

i'll have limited access to email while i'm away, but if you need anything, drop me a line. i'll get back to you as soon as i can.

have a great 2 weeks! see you on april 14!

giving through shopping

a client of mine is going to cambodia for 2 months to work with underprivileged women and help to get them out of a bad place. she's very inspirational to me -- i think it's an amazing thing to do. while over there, she will be working with this organization, khmer krafts. they teach these young women how to sew and make items that they sell online. the best part? all of the proceeds go directly to these women and their families. and our dollars go a long way over there.

they have adorable items for sale on the site (see the beautiful bag below), and they change every few weeks. so check back often.

if you are looking for something for your bridesmaids, a gift for a friend, or just something for yourself, please consider buying it from khmer krafts. you can really help someone in need.

sneek peek! A&A

i'm just wrapping up a great job for two of my clients. they are getting married on a rustic working farm that grows lots of fruits for picking. the location also happens to use lots of vintage french accents in their decor.

i don't want to give too much away since the piece is just about to go off to the printers. but the sneak peek is above. i hope you enjoy!

stationery blog love

rj at the stationery hustle has closed out her wedding stationery showcase with NicEvents! so much fun... check it out here.

rj is the great designer behind jane hancock papers. check out her etsy store for some fun goodies, like zombie-boy cards and alien notebooks.

thank you rj for the great post!

i just look silly

so i've decided to try henna on my hair. it's natural, which is better for me -- hey, anything is worth trying out with these headaches -- and i'm already a dyed redhead, so the color is easy. i mixed up the stuff last night and let it sit overnight for dye-release, and then put it on about a half-hour ago.

funny part is that once you're done applying the gunk to your head -- which looks like baby poo and smells like fresh hay -- you have to put plastic wrap over your entire head. i guess this helps generate heat (necessary for the dye release), and also helps to keep the henna from dyeing everything else (like my couch, chair, bathroom floor, etc.) man, i look silly though!

it is easy, and i hope the color comes out well, cause this would be a great solution for me. plus, it's cheap -- i live in a neighborhood with a large pakistani population, so good henna from the middle east is readily available down the street for $1.49 a box! and i only have to use 1/3 of a box on my short hair! fabulous!

UPDATE: it's done! it's a bright coppery-red. kinda fun! what do we think?

branding revisited

i know i've posted before about accidental branding, the new book from david vinjamuri. but i cannot stress enough how great the book is. now that i have my own copy in my hands, signed by the author nonetheless, i'm loving the ease of the read and the entertaining way david tells us about the birth of each of the brands.


i've also enjoyed the work i've been able to do with david for the book launch, which is in a short 2 weeks! sadly, i won't be able to attend the launch -- i poorly planned our trip to thailand over the day of the event -- but i'll be there in spirit. yes, my spirit, standing next to the celebrities that are actually attending...

if you are in the nyc area and would like to attend the launch, click here to find out how.

sorry...

... for my lack of posts this week. i'm kind of crazily trying to get prepared to leave for thailand on saturday, which means getting my work done, doing the shopping for the trip, and taking care of my laundry! eek!

but i promise to get in a couple more posts before i leave.

promise, promise... =)

Happy Easter!!

happy easter everyone! i hope you have a lovely spring day.
image from a spring card by sweetpea ink.

happy spring! and how happy dresses make me...

happy spring everyone!!

you might recall that i recently participated in a fashion show for kimera at deity bar in brooklyn (that's me above!). well, the photos are in and the dresses look hot! yvonne definitely makes some gorgeous clothes...

just to show my love for yvonne, i actually wore a magenta-colored dress! as many of you know, i'm simply not a pink girl. but i have to admit, the dress looks amazing in photographs.

enjoy the pics below of the show and the lovely ladies who participated. yvonne is the one in the middle of the last shot, with all her beautiful models.


all photos above copyright aeric meredith-goujon photography. all rights reserved.

prints charming

this morning, daily candy told of a great new gallery here in NYC called charmingwall. the gallery, located in the west village, is dedicated to up-and-coming illustrators and their inspirational artwork. they work is printed and curated by the owners of the gallery from the artists themselves -- hand-picked for the audience. according to daily candy: "Works are open edition (not limited) at three price points (including tax): $20 alone, $40 matted, $80 framed. In-house printing (high res on photo-quality paper) keeps costs low."

i think this is a great idea. the illustration community has suffered a bit over the past few years from lousy contracts and changes in the publishing world. places like charmingwall will help open new doors for illustrators, and keeps the art alive. their website is pretty kick-ass, too!

if only i was still illustrating... but maybe this and etsy will get me back on track with it. =)

enjoy!

from the charmingwall site, the artists list and the details on an etsy favorite of mine, cori dantini.

finally moving forward again at home...

dave and i have been stuck in neutral in our apartment decoration... we still need to do so many things. paint, get chairs recovered, get new chairs for the dining table, get a new area rug, get a bookcase, etc. aaacckkk!! too much. and we weren't doing any of it.

yesterday, we had to go to fortunoff to spend a gift card that we had received for our wedding. it was quite a generous amount, and we would have lost it in a couple of weeks (it expires in 2 years). we were hoping to find a coffee table, but no such luck. so, onto the lighting department we went.

and we found some great pieces!!! we got a great chandelier for the bedroom, along with a gorgeous chrome-finish table lamp (on sale from $150 to $50!!). and then we found a tall buffet-height table lamp for the dining space for $40. oh, the joy! the ecstasy!!!


now we have more of a direction for the bedroom. along with our white shag rug, we're doing b&w bedding in a bold print to go with the black shades on the chandelier. we'll offset this with the beautiful pillows made for my by my friend loren in a teal/gold fabric. then we're thinking of a warm grey paint color and possibly gold sheer curtains. sigh... so sophisticated!

bedding from bella home fashions.
bedding from wrapables.com.


bedding from dwell studio for target.

bedding from bedbath store.

bedding from walmart.

bedding from bella home fashions.
and bedding at top from walmart.

yummy in my brooklyn tummy

everyone who reads my blog knows that i love some good packaging, that i'm a stationery designer, and that i'm a proud brooklynite. well, today brooklyn based sent me an email that alerted me to my ultimate dessert -- the type that plays to all my aforementioned qualities...

the mast brothers are homegrown, artful chocolatiers. they make their chocolate completely by hand from beginning to end. they refine the cacao from places such as madagascar and venezuela in small batches, roast their own pecans and toast their own almonds. and they do this daily, so that all the chocolate they sell is made just days before.


then -- and this is the part that really gets to me -- they wrap all of their chocolates in vintage papers! and beautiful ones at that (see above). according to rick mast, "our paper is from Italy and we are currently in discussions to commission original patterns from both local and international designers." hmmm... =)


rick and michael (above) are currently selling their chocolates at marlow and sons general store, urban rustic, and at artists and fleas (to name a few spots). but soon they will have a place of their own! their "store/cocoa 'lab' " will be opening this summer on north 3rd btwn berry and wythe in williamsburg, bk.

i can't wait! i don't know which part i'm more excited about: the delicious treats, the gorgeous papers, or the fact that it's all right here in brooklyn!