As one of the group who is always slightly lagging behind the rest, there are many adjustments to be made. First spouses make an appearance and you find yourself being the single friend who everyone loves and indulges. You are so happy that love is a-flowing and couples are being made in heavan and on the earth, you celebrate with them, and melt into the couples dynamics. Then babies turn up. You have bagged a spouse but as per the course you are still lagging. Babies bring a complete change. Breakfasts with girlfriends have a whole new twist with little nodding heads attracting buckets of attention; the universal love for babies takes you by serious surprise. Dinners sometimes move to early times, and sometimes become ice cream plans. You find yourself not batting an eyelid. You find yourself going along with the wave because thats the wave your friends are on. You understand it-it’s a different phase. You’re in a different place. And that’s fine.

Then along comes an easy monday breakfast.  You are’nt expecting it, but somehow all the babies have been left at home. It’s adult entertainment, parents supervise pls, no children here- Not a One. There’s conversation without clanging pans (sorry guys you know i love them regardless hehehe) there’s laughter without distracted mommies, there’s mad content with all bodies present physically and mentally, and there is banter- BANTER i tell you, and you find yourself loving it- almost more than you should. You realize you did miss this. You did crave this. You also realize it’s okay to think that.

So mommies and daddies- i love you all. I do. I just also love you without the titles, sometimes without the offsprings, sometimes free-spirited, sometimes impractical- just as my friends

As designers we are forever plagued by this incessant itch- the itch to look, observe, analyse, judge, store away as inspiration or discard contemptuously as un-designed, ho hum, not-worthy-of-our-time hoo haa. This itch becomes dulled in our regular routines with our regular daily meanderings and regular city discoveries.  Move away from your comfort zone though and it comes back maddeningly strong, completely desperate for a scratch.

Holidays mean our brains are going to be particularly overloaded.  Do we walk about enjoying the general environment or do we stop and stare at something as simple as building signage; stare till your companions think you to be a bit mad? Do we walk away happy to have witnessed this design blurb or do we madly scrounge for our camera so we can capture it and then spend the rest of the day imagining future projects of a similar design nature?

Moving to a new city then is holiday times 12.  We dont know the streets, we dont know the design styles, therefore we must be even more observant (as if there was such a thing) we must walk around armed with our notebook, our camera and our 8 senses ( didnt you know designers have more than 6 senses?) all the while frustrating our spouses/friends/siblings at our sheer inability to just walk about without commenting, thinking, arguing fonts & being a designer!

Being in dubai almost 9 months now, means i have had my moments of now-you-see-it-now-you-dont camera moves.  I have stored many many little ideas away for posterity. I have oohed and aahed over many arabic fonts (the simplicity of the ones prevalent here is just brilliant) and sometimes i have also been known to secretly steal water bottles while enjoying thai entrees with friends. This bottle had been tempting me since i moved to dubai. Most of the formal dinner venues served these water bottles and as you watched in complete dismay, the serving staff would refill glasses and promptly take the bottle away.  This weekend though i involved a friend and under her watchful eye the bottle never ran out, and as we paid our bill, she swiftly took the bottle and walked out.   Such are the urges we get and obey we must.

my recent obsession is to try out desserts~ after a few successes i tried my hand at that mysterious phenomena, the molten chocolate cake.

the one which is cracked on the outside but when you spoon it, deliciously warm and gooey on the inside.

with 14th feb coming up, this was just what the doctor ordered.

for those of you who want to try it

http://joyofbaking.com/MoltenChocolateCakes.html