Chinese fun and games.

To say that I've been a busy boy around the office lately is a bit of an understatement. And though I like to think I've got everything under control and somewhat sorted I'm pretty sure that I'll endup going gray prematuraly. Bring on the Just For Men touch-up kits...

Anyways, as busy and hectic as it can be, it's a lot of fun. I basically get to spend my days shopping! Well shopping, creating packaging, sorting out containers, arguing with factories about minimal order quantities, translating, working with graphic artists to develop packaging, et cetera, et cetera. And while I love all it, it's the thrill of the hunt and finding something new that excites me the most.

It's awesome stumbling across factories half way around the world and uncovering some of the cool pieces that they're producing. And though I can't necessarily show you what I'm currently buying (yet...I will when it arrives this spring) I want to show you some cool pieces that I just found!

I love how I can be trying to hunt down something like flooring or lighting and suddenly I've stumbled across the most amazing assortment of product. Case in point, I was looking for heaters and ended up with these AMAZING furniture pieces on my screen...

Aren't these pieces cool? Even though they're pretty much the last items in the world that I'll ever be importing (with this company anyways)...I'm in love with them! I've already mapped out homes for everything in my place.

This brings me to the question - how do I convince work to bring in a container of this stuff? Remember I work for a hardware retailer...not a furniture retailer.

Knowing me, I'm going to have these pieces on my mind for the next couple of days and will go to bed this evening coming up with a goofy plan on how I'll get them over here and into my apartment. Something like "ooooh....the factory makes garden tools. Let's buy a bunch of shovels for the stores...and oh yah, throw this, this and that in the container for our review."

Then again, maybe I'd be further ahead wandering down to Homesense to see what they have.

Hmm....

D-

Word up.

Creativity comes from trust. Trust your instincts. 

And never hope more than you work.

-Rita Mae Brown

Mr. Mitchell Decorates.

My mind has officially been blown.

No Seriously.

Today is the first day of December. Seriously. Where did this year go? Wasn't it just yesterday that I was heading to the beach with Mister and our friends? Non?

Oh well. I guess if anything it means that we're just that much closer to Christmas! And to help get me feeling festive I dug out the last of the decorations, hit up the shops (yet again....we won't tell Mister how much I've spent) and starting spreading the fun around my place.

And while I've got a ways to go, I figured that it would be fun to give you a sneak peek of what I've been up to.

As this is the one and only holiday that I really get into, I figured that I have no excuse not to go all out. This year I started out with greenery above my kitchen cabinets. I figured out that I could hide a cord behind the cabinets - therefore letting me go with a pre-lit garland, which I dressed up with a mix of vintage glass and new unbreakable balls. The way the glittery balls hit the lights makes me swoon....no, for reals. When it comes to Christmas, I don't mess around.

Though my tree is up and lit (we won't discuss the three hours it took to get there....), I'm waiting until this weekend to decorate it with Mister. And while I thought I could wait until the weekend, I found myself NEEDING TO DECORATE something. So away went the shells and postcards that filled my urns and vases and out came the buffalo snow and balls in every shade of blue I could find, complimented with silver and white.

Isn't this reindeer the cutest little guy you've ever seen? I picked him and his brother up from Superstore right after they put their decorations out. He's basically the reason that I decided to go all out with the blue and silver theme this season....we won't go into detail about how I when I was in the States last month I bought a pile of red stuff (I swear....I'll use it next year).

And while I'd like to show you everything else I've done, I'm going to make you wait! I wanna unveil the finished project sometime this weekend! I'm hoping to spend part of tomorrow evening getting the tree wrapped up and then I've got a couple of other DIY projects that I want to tackle....that is if I can find the missing pieces! 

I found a couple of those pieces on the way home from work this evening....

Are you getting curious yet?

Hmmm.....

Back to the fun & eggnog!

D-