Twinkle By Wenlan

By Sayumi

Kaiten Sushi (conveyor belt sushi) has been popular in Japan at least for 20 years now.
It started as a place you can eat cheap but not so good sushi.
Sushi stayed on the conveyor hours and hours if no one picked it. When it get dried, they sprayed water so it could look fresh…
But Kaiten Sushi business has been highly evolutionized now.
You can place your order using touch screen on your table, and,  this is the most amazing part,
sushi comes to your table on an express train. It’s very entertaining.
I recorded sushi going to other people’s table. ( The train came from behind, so I couldn’t get it coming to my table.)

Click the link below to see the video.

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Come onnnn, someone play with me! I’ve got my warm-ups on and the ball is waiting, throw it! Kick it! Anyone?

No close-ups at the beach please!

By Wenlan

Do not want to give up the extra enjoyment of everyday life? Twinkle staff contributes their economic survival tips.

Turn Your Old Favorites into New Favorites
Second-hand shops are among the few businesses that are growing, and growing fast. Go through your closet and pick out those pieces that you can live without, take them to the consignment shop, and “voila”, now you have money to put toward new favorites.  Consignment stores will often give you a higher store credit in lieu of cash, so you can buy something new without spending a dime.  You may want to split the consignment with a few different shops to catch as much traffic as possible.

Michael’s Consignment
http://www.michaelsconsignment.com/index.html

Tokio 7
nymag.com

Encore
http://www.encoreresale.com/

Ina
http://www.inanyc.com/

Ladies Who Lunch On a Budget
Lunch deals are a great opportunity to take advantage of the city’s gourmet food without breaking the bank. Plenty of restaurants run by famous chefs, like Jean Georges, offer prix fixe lunch specials for under $25. Twice a year many of the New York’s trendiest restaurants participate in Restaurant Week, where they offer three-course gourmet meals for a very low price. There are many other deals to be found at different times of the year, you just have to search for them. Here’s a few to start you off:

Gotham Bar and Grill
http://www.gothambarandgrill.com/content/view/13/ ($31)

Tabla
www.tablany.com ($35)

Bouley
www.davidbouley.com

Going Green on Wine
Domestic vineyards offer the same quality wines at lower prices because you do not pay gas or international shipping.  There are many vineyards such as St. Supery Vineyard who are using sustainable and eco-friendly techniques.. Many wine shops will keep your buying history and will help you explore these more eco-friendly wines.

www.stsupery.com

Beauty DIY

Instead of going to the spa once a month, why not try a weekly facial at home?  Many manufacturers specializing in skin-care offer excellent products for you to do it at home. Focus on what your skin really needs and stick to those that really work.

Bliss Steep Clean Complete Set
http://www.blissworld.com/product/skin+care/shop+skincare/face/bliss+steep+clean+complete+set.do

St. Ives Apricot Facial Scrub
http://www.stives.com/skin-care-products/facial-invigorating-scrub.cfm

Clinique Three Step Facial
http://www.clinique.com/templates/products/multiproduct.tmpl?CATEGORY_ID=CATEGORY14109

Travel Smart
Travel in a slower season and at the last minute! Holiday travel can be less of a hassle if you go to the right place at right time. Go to Europe during the Thanksgiving holiday when foreign flights are cheaper and it’s the off-season in Europe, especially Eastern Europe. Or go to Asia right after lunar New Year (usually in early to mid-Feb) when people in the region go back to work and spring has not yet attracted the international tourists.

http://www.expedia.com/daily/deals/lastminute_deals/flightdeals.asp

Basic vs. Novelty
Inspired by Project Runway? How about learning to sew and knit?  You can get more VALUE by creating novelty pieces or stylish basics that are perfect for your wardrobe. For example, a straight pencil skirt is a fantastic project, because it’s so easy to make. The money you save from making the skirt can afford you the luxurious fabric that makes the skirt looks expensive. Novelty or time-consuming pieces can be very expensive in a store, but to make a piece like a hand-knit sweater is worth the time. And only you will know who the designer was!

Bargain vs. Worth
Lastly, remember a bargain does not necessarily mean money well-spent. The goal is to carefully edit choices, and consider quality and timelessness, which will stretch your budget even further.  Happy spending!

By Wenlan

The hot topic recently among my friends, besides the presidential election, is fitness.  We all should have talked about this some time ago, before we had to admit we will no longer fit into our size 2 dresses.  After having countless cocktails and glasses of wine, I found I could hardly zip up a dress from a year ago.  But I was optimistic.  I told myself, “What do you know? It does not fit today but it might fit tomorrow.”

Yet it took me many tomorrows to settle to the fact that I needed to start placing personal orders on my own collection as I couldn’t fit into the size 2 samples anymore.  I am now a size 4.  I remember when I first started the business and really struggled trying to make all my samples size 0 as that was the size that fitted me perfectly.  I thought if the business did not work out and I did not shop for three years then I would at least have the collection for myself and make the investment back.

People who are always on a diet have no idea how difficult it is for a used-to-be thin person to be on diet.  Thin, and often too skinny, for almost my whole life, I have formed no discipline on food intake.  I ate whatever and whenever I wanted and old habits die hard.  It is hard to train the very spoiled stomach to be a healthy organ.

On the other hand, gaining weight has a few advantages.  I start to feel that exercise is a necessity, not just to be healthy and toned, but to stay in a size 4- I do not want to lose all my old clothes.  My husband suggested that gaining weight may not be a bad thing as I can design for real women, which might help my business to the next level.

Almost all my friends gained weight over the years and we all have to start working out and watching our diets.  The most successful ones are those who are single, although we have the same trainer.  I do not like the gym.  My trainer has to be very patient, reminding me to attend every session.  While I’m trying to get out of sessions, I also think hard for an alternative.  It struck me that many years ago I used to be on a swimming team and I won karate competitions as well. And then I realized that I have not done any sport or any form of exercise for a very very long time.  Training out of necessity does not work like doing sport out of love.

Beautiful women of my age, like Nicole Kidman or Halle Berry- I will take their bodies in a minute, but they do not inspire me.  Olympic swimmer Dana Torres does. I started going to the gym again. The other day I watched Oprah and saw feminist and political activist Gloria Steinem, 74 years old now.  I emailed her picture to my mom and told her Ms. Steinem’s story. My mom started jogging the next day.  Inspiration goes a long way.
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Dana Torres

By Wenlan
It is rather difficult trying to be objective when talking about my dog Milan.  She is the cutest and the sweetest.  If you don’t believe it, check out her picture - the innocent eyes, the baby face, the tear drop markings on her butt, the bat ears and pink belly.  Having a big heart, she is very affectionate to any animal and every person.  Milan has amazing energy when going out on a walk or playing indoors.  Yet the best thing is she never asks to go out on a weekend morning when I like to stay in bed for a bit longer.

This little creature inspires some of the very popular twinkle designs, such as Milan and Her Rubble Ball necklace, Milan’s Imaginary Friend mat, Milan Mirror throw pillow, and Milan intarsia sweater.  A camera darling in my fashion show back stage, she actually RAN the runway once and her picture opens my first knitting book.  But, nothing compares to the little, silly joys that she brings to the twinkle office everyday.

Yet I have to admit she is not the brightest.  She is 4 years old and the only command she knows is “sit” and she does not always follow it.  I do not try to teach her any tricks.  I told myself I just want her to be who she is and a happy dog.  The truth is I do not have the patience to wait for her to learn another trick.

Her instinct for pinpointing human food however is remarkably sharp.  She was once found hanging around the hot dog shop at the street corner by our building security guard.  Still now I have no clue how she made it out our studio, down 17 flights of stairs, and through the lobby to the shop.  The other day we heard Leon scream “MY GOD” in the showroom and discovered that Milan ate a whole box of macaroons that we prepared for editors in our press presentation.  Still now I cannot figure out how she knocked the box down from the table and how she managed to finish them all so quickly.  Well, not all as Yuki managed to grab one from Milan for herself.  According to Joanna’s calculations, Milan had at least 10,000 calories intake.  As much as we are all watching our diet, everyone mourned deeply over the left over macaroon pieces on our cream rug and spent the day pointing at Milan and yelling “BAD”.  It was a split-second in which we loved the macaroons over her.  Other times, Milan takes immense delight chewing buttons, hangers, beads, yarn swatches, as well as her favorite push pins; we enjoy her company then with great tolerance.

Milan in a Nutshell

Every time I am asked what I would have been doing if I were not a designer, I think of my favorite book, Milan Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Told through a great love story, one of the many complicated ideas in this book is that what has happened once might have never happened at all. Thus, each life is insignificant and each decision does not matter. The decisions we’ve made in our lifetime is unbearably light.
The pivoting point in life can be unimportant, as it does not exist. Among many complicated meanings behind this philosophy, I found it at least therapeutic- so I do not take everything too seriously, knowing I take everything very seriously.  I also think of the book when I am trying to balance myself from thinking I really just have one chance in life when I actually have endless second chances.  Everything that happens in life is so unique that it can never be reproduced again, yet there are endless possibilities as well. I have made quite a few detours in my career and I still keep my future open. I can’t say this attitude owes itself to this book. I first read it in 1988 and have been reading it many times through the past 20 years.
Every time I answer the question of what I would have done if I were not a designer, my thoughts go from chief, movie maker, rancher, writer, architect, zoologist, or archeologist to even a paper maker or bartender, not that I know how to do any of these well. Quite simply, I do not see being a fashion designer as my last and only career, although I absolutely enjoy my work very much.
A book can have this kind of profound influence on a person because the book speaks for them. It echoes the very inside layer of what we want in life. It does not enlighten us as much as it wakens the deepest part in us that we weren’t even aware existed before. This kind of book is a person’s best friend, soul mate, and ghost.
Wenlan Chia

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

By Joanna

With the hustle and bustle of events leading up to Fashion week - its easy to lose your head in all your thoughts. One evening while being immersed in  styling  the fahsion show we were caught off guard by the buliding security guard bursting into our studio holding our office dog MILAN saying “YOUR DOG…YOUR DOG…HOT DOG!” We were confused to what he was saying and just stared at each other - puzzeled. The security guard slowly  explained that our dog had somehow escaped from the studio - gone 17 floors down on the elevator and managed to walk a few blocks to New York’s very famous and fragrant Grey’s Papaya. Luckily, our security guard saw the dog and brought him back cradeling her like a baby. What a hero!!! With the plethora of jobs that needed to get done, the construction of the new office, and the incessant number of people coming in and out of the office- Milan smartly escaped for an adventure without us noticing. Never again will we let our beloved Milan out of our sight. We’re just lucky that when the security guard exclaimed “YOUR DOG..YOUR DOG..Hot dog!” he was referring the the place Milan went rather than what she could have become.

Milan- the HOT Dog!

By Christine

If we do say so ourselves, our gift bags this year were quite terrific.  Not only were they in Etoile, our favorite print du jour, but they were also reversible and were the perfect accessory for our runway show.  Inside was an abundance of goodies.  First there was Redken Real Control shampoo and conditioner which were perfect for some rehabilitation for post-Fashion Week hair.  Then we had Paul Robinett candles which are flawlessly fragranced with only the purest essential oils and guaranteed to relax any fashionista.  Lush provided their Dream Cream which were in the cutest little jars and perfect for our dry winter weather ahead.  Creative Nail not only did our models’ nails, but also provided glamorous polish for all of our guests.  And let’s not forget the scrumptious and fashionable MarieBelle chocolates in their adorable little boxes.  A great thank you to all our guests for arriving to Bryant Park at 9AM on a Monday

Our bag of goodies!

By Wenlan

Last week, I traveled to Austin and Dallas on a book and yarn tour. As soon as I returned to New York, I went to another knitting event Stitch’N Pitch held at a Mets game. I have been asked during this Marathon knitting week the same questions over and over that I have been asked often before: “Do you still knit?”

The truth is that I indeed do not knit even half as much as I did compared to the first 1 or 2 years when I started the business. However, after I finished the week’s knitting journey, I started knitting again. As a matter of fact, I have found no better way to put my mind at peace than with knitting.

The current political and financial turmoil is harder to endure than any stress filled days I encountered in my professional and personal life. I’m anxious, unsettled, and neurotic these days. Some of my friends exercise to release the tension. I find the little free time I have is hard to fill without feeling empty and lost. I used to be able to enjoy a good movie, cook, and read. But at this unusual time, I found tranquility only in knitting.

Knitting for me used to be a way of creating. I like to design sweaters, especially hand knits in an unconventional structure. I found it hard to follow other people’s patterns as I always make my own pattern according to my design. I was only interested in making new designs and new patterns. I have not experienced the therapeutic part of what knitting can do until Wall Street went down and the Presidential debate took place.

I have been making the Aspen hat from my first book- Twinkle’s Big City Knits. I think it is the perfect Christmas gift and plan on making one hat a day. Except for a few days where I might be too excited, laugh too much over Tina Fey, or have too much to drink that I might skip my therapy, I should be able to finish 35 some hats by Nov 4th.  That’s quite some special gifts for 35 of my dearest friends and family.

My husband takes on jogging these days, yet he still gets agitated as soon as CNN starts. I suggest he take on knitting instead. You might see him in my first knitting workshops.

Aspen Hat in Baby Pink