{ barcelona bound }

Every year the company I work for holds it's 'Global Gathering'. It's a celebration and recognition of high achievers for the previous 12 months. They really go all out with a brilliant party somewhere in the world and this year it's Barcelona. I'm lucky enough to be attending as the representative of my team as we were the most improved shop in our area. I head off on Monday afternoon, spend Tuesday in London and then the rest of the week in Barcelona.


Each year there's lots of pre-talk and guesses as to who our guest speaker will be at the conference that's held during the day on the Saturday. Last year in Honolulu we had Lance Armstrong and in Dublin the year before it was Bob Geldof! The main money is on a European as there seems to be a pattern of having a local, possibly a Spaniard but who could it be? All will be revealed in a little over a week.

A couple of years ago my husband and I spent a wonderful couple of weeks travelling through Spain however we didn't make it to Barcelona so it will be all new to me.


I've been super busy at work and only found out a week ago that we made the cut, so I haven't had any time to research and plan my days in Barcelona. Once I give it a couple of minutes thought, I'm know filling the day on London will be NO problem, but do you have suggestions for either city? I'd love to hear them.

{ custom order + a new design }

Very proud of myself - finally remembered to take some snaps of a just completed custom order. A friend picked up a fabulous holder for the recipes you accumulate from magazines, friends and family, etc that usually end up in a pile somewhere. Upon seeing it I thought to myself - ‘I can make that’ in the true fashion of crafters the world over.

The process for new designs is a fairly consistent process for me. I think through the technical aspects of what’s needed (measurements, etc) then have a first go. I make a few more with modifications as necessary and farm those out to close friends or my mum to put into use and give me feedback on anything that needs altering.

A final run past the in-house quality control supervisor:


And then all things go.

The first version of my recipe holder went as a birthday present to my friend and then she ordered this one for a relative.


I thought this paper was spot on for a recipe holder and I have another couple in my paper draw that will be excellent too. I haven’t yet worked out pricing so once that’s done I can get a few made and in my Etsy store for sale.

Of course there has to be a link to Japan and for this one it’s the plastic sleeves inside. I haven’t been able to find good quality ones here at a reasonable price but I found them in Tokyu Hands - no wonder I was over my luggage limits coming home!

{ new book }

At some point I'll move on from my current Japan obsession, but until then here's a book I made out of a manga comic picked up over there:

{ whirlwind japan trip day 4 }

The pace of the last few days caught up with me a bit on our final day and I really didn’t get as much done as I could have. A later start today with a group of us heading to Shinjuku for some retail therapy and lunch.

I left the group after lunch to head to Okadaya again and thankfully the sign on the shutters yesterday must have said closed for that day only because, thankfully, all was a go today.


I was pretty restrained as I had purchased so much fabric just 2 months prior but still managed to come away with 10 metres of fabric. This time it’s not all for me as a friend sews beautiful clothes for her daughter so I picked up a small selection of fabrics for them to play with. It’s fun trying to find prints you think others will like, but I felt a certain degree of self-imposed pressure too - I hope they like them. Oh well, even if not the thought was there!

Really should then have set out for Fabric Town but I was too tired and headed back to the hotel for a brief time before heading for the airport and on the overnight flight home. We were very spoilt by JAL and were treated to Business Class on our return. A quick shower at home on arrival and straight back to the office - did the last 4 days really happen???


A random photo, but how awesome is this guys hair?! I'm pretty sure if I stood next to him, his hair alone would be taller than me.

{ whirlwind japan trip day 3 }

Today was my designated shopping day. I started in Harajuku, with mixed success on my list:

CROSS - Harajuku girls (I think they’ve moved to somewhere else for their Sunday showings)

CROSS - Kit Kats in awesome glass jars in vending machines as I found in this area last trip

TICK - great purchases at the MOMA Design Store and Kiddyland

TICK - delicious lunch at the hole in the wall restaurant we found last trip.



Then to Shibuya for stationary purchases at Loft and clothes, stationary and storage purchases at Muji (am I the only person who comes home from trips with storage contaniners for in the bathroom cabinets at home??).

Finally to Shinjuku for paper and stationary purchases at Tokyu Hands, craft book looking but no purchases at Kinokuniya, a special request purchased in heavy metal CD heaven at Disc Union and finally time for Okadaya fabric store.

Unfortunately shutters down and a sign on them that of course I couldn’t understand! Most stores are open on Sundays, in fact if they’re going to close it’s more likely a Monday they do so, so I was worried the sign was saying the store had closed for good.

Back to the hotel for a gorgeous hosted dinner. The 2 hotels we stayed at on this trip really went above and beyond in looking after us. If your budget can stretch to it, I can highly recommend the ANA Intercontinental and The Strings Intercontinental.


And finally,

TICK - karaoke!!

{ whirlwind Japan trip day 2 }

DAY 2: A choice of tours had been arranged for day 2 of our trip. As I was a very last minute ring-in to replace a colleague, I had to do the tour he selected which was a day trip to Mt Fuji-Hakone. I don't mind organised tours but I tend to prefer half day ones as the full day ones can be pretty exhausting.

This one started at 8am and we didn't return until about 7.15pm so certainly a full day.


In the bus first off and a couple of hours on the road to the visitors centre for a quick stop and then on to Station 5 which I think is the highest you can drive to.

The best time to see Mt Fuji is in the winter as most of the rest of the year it's covered in cloud - or being shy as our guide said. Here's the view we had:


Mmmm...I promise the top of the mountain is there somewhere! We had a little bit of snow where we got off for a quick wander around the gift shops and some snacks to warm us up:


Back in the bus and down the mountain for lunch:


Back in the bus and off to the lake, through another gift shop and onto a boat for a very quick 15 min cruise up to another area. Past some more gift shops (yes, a theme appearing here) and up into a gondola thing up another mountain (not Mt Fuji). Unfortunately not the best day for this type of mountaintop viewing:


A quick turnaround and back down the mountain where we luckily had another 30 mins or so to wander the gift shops - hooray!

Back in the bus and onto a nearby town to catch the Shinkansen train (bullet train, but the local one, not the SUPER fast one - although that did zoom through the station while we were there and it was incredibly FAST!).

A super quick change of clothes and off to another hotel for site inspection and hosted dinner. We had planned on hitting karaoke after dinner but were all too tired from the day.

Phew - exhausted!

{ whirlwind Japan trip day 1 }

DAY 1: Departed Sydney 0820 Friday and landed Tokyo Friday evening at 1700 local time. A great flight with JAL and lucky enough to be in Premium Economy. Not a cabin they sell from Australia, but rather one they keep for high status Frequent Flyers etc.

Our hotel was the ANA Intercontinental Tokyo in Aksaka. A fairly quiet area after the business day but a wonderful hotel with good sized rooms (not that common in Japan). After a quick freshen up, hotel staff showed us through a couple of suites and the top of the line room as well - man that's how the other half live and my only chance of ever seeing rooms like these are on trips like this!

After the site inspection the hotel staff hosted the most AMAZING dinner. I can't believe it but I left my camera in my room so unfortunately no photos to show but I did take a souvenir copy of the menu:

Aperitif
Zensai (assorted appetizer)
Suimono (clear soup)
Sushi
Beef shabushaba hot pot (beef, pot herb mustard, enoki mushroom, rice cake)
Yakizakana Igrilled silver cod)
Tempura (prawn, white fish, three kinds of vegetable)
Gohan (mixed tempura topped on rice, miso soup, Japanese pickles)
Green tea icecream

I'm not a very adventurous eater day to day, but when I'm given an opportunity to taste such unusual and amazing looking food I give it a good go! The hot pot was sensational. Super finely shaved meat that you barely touch through the boiling water in front of you to cook - yum!

I REALLY wish I had photos to share!

Due to none, here's another fantastic ad in the subway: