tommy? chanel? prada???

this is not the sewn in labels i REALLY wanted to show - i forgot my camera when i went to the CHINESE chinese clothing market (the one where my shanghainese friend had to bring me). there, they had the sewn in labels pinned on the side of each stall. you want prada? i sew in prada. you want chanel? i sew in chanel.

here, you see all the paper labels that get clipped to the outsides of the items. you choose who makes your bag, clothes, whaddeveh... and you can sport any label you'd like. here, most people buy in the hundreds. so they can clip in their own label of choice. i only wish i could have had a better shot. i think i was just a bit shell-shocked from this visit...

book talk on the bund

so on a hazy/cloudy sunday morning the varkenkidlets headed out to M on the Bund for a book talk from a "faaaaamous author" we all love faaaaaaamous authors, right? and this one was RIGHT up varkenson's alley. PHILIP ARDAGH. he wrote such funny stuffed stoat stuff as the eddie dickens trilogy. full of death and dearth and well, let's just say it is EXACTICALLY the kind of stuff the varkenboy enjoys.

quite an intimate setting. in the "crystal room" at M on the bund. which is a whole building of "M" restaurants, nightclubs, and coffee houses??? and the annual literary festival.

they even had a little play acting - just so we could be a part of ongoing plot development. jack was a window in which other child was being thrown out of after being bitten by a pony...

and then we had to go outside to the balcony w/ the best view on the bund (it looks fabulous at night. and great in the sunshine). i don't know why we managed the only 20 minutes of the day to be out there when it was completely clouded over.