My new TOMS

I just bought my second pair of TOMS today at Whole Earth Provision, near the Galleria, here in Houston. I was inspired to pick up at pair because of their April 16th event, "One Day without Shoes". For those of you who don't already know about TOMS, I suggest you check it out, they are an amazing company that puts giving at the base of their equation.

Jenni's Noodle House Post Oak opens today!

Jenni's second Noodle House opened today, on Post Oak at Westhiemer. I started with the Teaser Eggrolls and Vietnamese Ice Coffee. It was yummy delicious. I hear from another blogger- street artist, give up, that real blogers shoot their food. So, I brought my camera to record the tastiness. Followed by the eggrolls I had some yummy ramen. Yes, ramen, not the Oodles of Noodles Top Ramen, ramen, but real ramen. I loved it too.



The new restaurant retains the playful intimate spirit of Jenni's on Shepherd; but with higher design aesthetic. As you first walk in there is a narrow space similar to a hallway that leads you to the register to order, illuminated by a wonderful lamp made of hundreds of little lights. It reminds me of a luminescent sea creature. Along the wall there are three large scale black and white photographs of Vietnam printed on canvas. As you look to the left there is the drink and condiment area, to the right of the drinks there is a wall painted in the Jenni's bright yellow orange, adorned with, what I can only assume is a photo of Jenni's beautiful Mama, with fun cherry blossoms covering the exposed duct work on the celling leading to the restrooms. So much fun and so sweet. Then as you sit down you are welcomed by banquette seating, dark wood tables and chairs with accents of lighter wood. Jenni's Noodle House is a nice addition to the area, a respite from all the overpriced chain restaurants. I wish them the best of success, both Scott and Jenni and their staff work so hard to create a wonderful place to eat and it shows.

I love the new Jenni's!

Green House Houston: Cordell House

There is a great development company here in Houston, Texas doing some exciting green design utilizing recycled shipping containers. Katie Nichols from Numen Development posted a link on facebook about one of their most recently completed projects, the "Cordell House". So, I thought I might share some details of this project for those of you, whom this facebook link might not be available.

As I mentioned before the development team for this project is Houston's own Numen Development and Houston architect Christopher Robertson of Robertson Design designed the house. Houston photographerJill Hunter was asked to photograph the completed project.



Jill Hunter took some really beautiful photographs of the Cordell House. Here are a couple really nice exterior shots of the house.



Are you enticed yet??? Dwell are you making note of your next feature and cover?? Here is a link if you just can't get enough and want to see more of this beautiful house. Cordell House. If you want to read more about the Cordell House project, I have a link for that too... just click here. Never fear all links should open in a new window or tab, so you can get it all.

If you love Jill's photos and happen to view her site from my links, you might want to also note that she will be having a show at Galleria Lazzara. There will be an artist reception Thursday, February 12th, at Galleria Lazzara. 7-10pm 5400 Mitchedale, suite b7. Please go an enjoy the show

RDA Spring Lecture Series- Transparency Exposing Graphic Design Ellen Lupton

Tonight I attended the 3rd in the series of four lectures given by the Rice Design Alliance. Tonight's speaker was Ellen Lupton. Ellen is the director of the Graphic Design MFA program at MICA as well as a writer, twin, mom, D.I.Y evangelist, bra fitting aficionado and curator of contemporary design at Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum.

I grabbed one of her books at the lecture, "D.I.Y. Design it Yourself". I had looked up her site before attending and was crossing my fingers that the books would be available since there was a book signing. I was happy to find out, this was the case. And of course, I had to get it signed as a gift to my alter ego, nom de plume Katsola. Yeah, thank you Ellen!

Her lecture focused on supporting the statement "think more. design less" and the concept of 'Design it Yourself' as it relates to both designers and non designers. I found this juxtaposition very interesting. While some might balk at the thought of everyone being a designer, it's important to note that sometimes the best design comes from keeping things streamlined and focused. As an example, Ellen spoke about a topic in a forthcoming book, 'Is a Toaster Necessary?'. To sum it up Yes... if you want or love toast, you do need a toaster to make fabulous toast. She and her twin did the leg work and found the standard basic issue toaster will out as the pontiff of crispy toastyness. She also made the point to all the women in the audience that the cup of a bra is all about the fad and fashion and the band of the bra was, you guessed it the 'foundation' of nice breast display. And to further illustrate this point she shared with us some of her lovely illustrations. Which I must say were quite fun. I have charge myself with creating an illustration, inspired by Ellen.

I really enjoyed this lecture so this is part 1 of 2 since I am tired and needing to get to bed.

Maya is a hungry little shark

Maya is a hungry little puppy... Okay so she's not little nor a puppy, more like a shark. I went over to this placed name Tiny Boxwoods, where they serve lattes in giant cups and have sandwiches and such. I decided on a grilled cheese with pesto, but tiny's was busy and crowded, so I got my food to go. Anyway, the moment I got home and opened up the package to sit and eat, Maya zipped over, licked her chops and cried like she hadn't eaten in days. Eyes fixed in my sandwich with stellar concentration and not just her tail wagging, but her whole doggy toushie ready for a morsel. Next, she employed her famous work the table, launch the big tongue technique to get a bite, when that didn't provide any sustenance, she went back to the whimpering. 'Oh, forlorn we have no sandwich from our mean mommy...' But then, a stoke of luck, her mom, me, took a pause with the last bite still in hand! And with that momentary pause Maya snapped up that bite with the speed of a rocket and chewed as fast as a shark in a feeding frenzy.