cheers, old chap...

long time, no? my apologies, but it's been rather crazy these past few weeks with jeffrey trying to balance design responsibilities for both his own line and bill blass, which has meant that i've had to step up.

just today, the buyer from barney's came in to see how the fall 2010 collection is coming along. the good news is that she liked it and could see where we were trying to go with the collection. in other words, she got the collection. the bad news however, is that she said it needed more color. consequently, we had to do a major overhaul of the collection...with only a week and a half left before fashion week. who does she think she is? sigh...c'est la vie...

strangely, i should be more concerned about working this much than i am. i know i've chosen a potentially very lonely lifestyle, but the problem is that i love the work :-/

i suppose the deeper problem with loneliness is that it can rather easily lead to detachment. and sometimes, the people who need to reach out the most are the ones who are the least capable of it. i don't know if it's happening to me, but i have been feeling a bit jaded about being intentional in my relationships...

i need to watch tom ford's directorial debut. i heard it was brilliant...just like everything else he does.

i made ya something...

in a garden state mood. it's amazing how accurately it portrays the modern twenty-something experience. sigh...

oh boy...

happy new year, all. it's hard to believe it's a new decade already. what will the 2000s be remembered for i wonder...i suppose only time will tell.

anyway, i survived the first day back at work! more or less in one piece. this year is going to be CRAZY. with jeffrey accepting the design director position at bill blass and mel (the sales director) pregnant, EYE am going to be the only full-time employee in the office most of the time. that's almost like doing THREE times the work i normally do...and i had a hard enough time handling that! sigh...they really don't pay me enough. thank God jeffrey's bringing in a part-time studio manager starting next week to handle all the administrative stuff, as well as the shipping. hallelujah, indeed! that means less e-mailing and more designing for me!

this also means i need to be more intentional in my personal life so i don't lose my sanity: sleep early, wake up early, eat healthier, EXERCISE (since i don't get to play soccer enough), be a better son, and be a better friend. i suppose you could call these my new year resolutions...which i never really bothered with in the past.

anyway, please PRAY for my sanity.

IN OTHER NEWS, this is the first holiday after which i gained weight. sigh...

annoyances...

whenever people have asked me about my pet peeves, i've had a hard time giving them a definitive answer, mostly because i'm a rather easy going person. this christmas season however, i've finally nailed down my pet peeves. well, 2 of them at least:

1. secular holiday music

2. cheap umbrellas

i cannot express in words how much i DEPISE secular holiday music, so i'm not even going to try. as for cheap umbrellas, we can all learn something from the british. if you want to see a man's umbrella, check out this site. apart from being the leading umbrella company for 170 years and the first name in sticks and canes, the shop on new oxford street is a legend in itself--a perfect example of a victorian front shop design and has remained virtually unaltered in 140 years.

cheers.

while i'm at it...

some of you may know that i also moved into a new apartment in williamsburg, brooklyn (aka hipster central) on december 1 and signed a 1-year lease. after a few weeks spent cleaning and buying various necessities, i've finally settled into a very modest but comfortable living arrangement for the next year. the great thing about the place is that it's quite close to the subway, which takes me to work in 15 minutes. also, i can now host guests overnight if need be, so if you're in town, come on over! here's my new address:

121 graham ave #3

brooklyn, ny 11206

new e-mail...

i thought i should have something a little more professional than effareedee@gmail.com and a little less pretentious than andrew.li@alumni.duke.edu, so my new address is andrew.fred.li@gmail.com.

boring, i know, but useful nonetheless. i will no longer be checking the effareedee account, and my alumni address now forwards to my new gmail address.

it's official...

bill blass finally has a new designer!

so who's going to run jeffrey monteiro, then?

;-)