NEW! Fashion Friday

I'm going to post a fashionable family photo every Friday. If it's not evident from the Garage, we were and will always be clothing people. And our old photos just have stellar fashion. 

Here we are in Sausalito because my parents were crazy about Sausalito. My mom's in a quilted Chinese jacket, and I'm wearing a bright red parka and plaid pants. I learned to pose with my hands on my hips from TV. Also, my mom is rocking a mini Dior Speedy! It's in my closet but sadly beat up beyond repair. 

Julie And The Dream Of Horses

Been having anxiety over this monster project. Cold sweats at night, constant outfit changes in the day, nightmares... typical Garage Anxiety. But apparently so have my friends.


Begin forwarded message:

From: "julie"
Date: June 10, 2010 4:37:53 PM PDT
To: "raina"
Subject: you sold my horse
i want to share my really weird vivid dream from last night because you were in it. in my dream, i sculpted an oversized 'my little pony'-looking blue horse. there were some other elements but all i remember was the horse. afterwards i'm wandering around a big house with all this art/junk being sold in it, including my sculpture. i frantically searched through all the rooms looking to find my sculpture. i'm not having much luck. then i asked you about my horse and you said you sold it to someone named genevieve for 2 bucks. i got really pissed after hearing this.

Theme Sweaters

So the Ring Sweater was just an introduction. My mom had a shitload of sweaters. I surmise that growing up in Taiwan sweaters were either expensive or highly sought after. I can't find an explanation for why we have more sweaters more than any other article of clothing. It's odd considering we live in a place where T-shirt weather prevails even in winter. Now that I think of it, Taiwan is hot and humid all year round so I don't know why she'd grow up wanting sweaters. 

Being the collector, my mom was beyond your average cardis and crewnecks. She liked theme sweaters, especially holiday ones. While her collection is no Gem Sweater museum, it's still a little nutty.

"Urban Christmas" is one of my favorites. 

Here's a panda pocket because that's where pandas belong. 

A Fly Girl worthy bolero.

I wear the Anne Klein II lion when I'm feeling ferocious. He's made of angora, wool, and lurex.

When the family visits for the holidays, they like to wear the sweaters as much as they can. Haven't seen these sweaters in a while so I can only assume they liked them a little to much.

Send Me The Pillow You Dream On

Old Chinese people like to sleep on cold, hard pillows. Ceramic, jade, marble, long as it's a rock with a indentation for the head, they want to dream on it. Painful as it looks, the pillows probably promote health or longevity, just like those slippers lined with rubber points they sell at all Asian supermarkets.

I found vague answers to the hard pillow question at the Ceramics Museum in Yingge, Taiwan, the city known for their pottery. 

Pillows let you "sleep without worry" because your valuables are inside and no one can break those hard pillows open! 

Of course no one knows more about pillows than my dear friend Parisa, the headmistress of pillow production. She makes lovely vintage fabric lavender cushions and sells them on Prince Street in New York. Read her blog for the truth about pillows. 

Mystery of the Thai Jewel

I found this receipt between my dad's photos. Who was this ring intended for and where is it now? The "blue star + diamonds" might have been a sapphire ring with a long star that I once saw but I'm not certain. I have photos of my dad traveling Italy, Japan, and the US in the 70's but hadn't come across evidence of Thailand until now. 

According to the business card illustration, they also sell miniature elephants and tusks!

Hoarder or Collector?

There's fine line between hoarding and collecting. Hoarders keep things they think are valuable while collectors keep items that fall under a theme, such as dolls, stamps, music, or camera equipment. Thinking about how O.C.D my grandfather was, I believe his styrofoam containers and Whole Foods napkins fall under the theme of "take out". It was the anal way that he curated his things that made them a collection. Hoarders tend to be messier and nonchalant about categories. But maybe I'm underestimating hoarders. 

I just skimmed through this Could You Be A Hoarder quiz, a qualifyer being "I have multiples of many items, e.g. plastic bags, cards, pants of the same color." I wasn't sure whether to answer the questions in regards to my current situation (living in an inherited hoarder house) or what I would really do (not keep plastic bags or pants of the same color). I'd answer yes to "I avoid having people over because of all the mess" but it brought up some painful feelings. It made me remember that this isn't my crazy garage but that it was given to me. I'm learning to separate myself from my mother's mess. Which is why I decided to start this blog-- to document about this absurd situation and get some much needed distance. It's easier to cope when I can view this all as a flaming, hairy spectacle. 

Anyway, I took the quiz and... I'm not a hoarder! I've had little trouble tossing things, minus cool items such as the sex plug or the stamp collections. I'm beginning to have stricter guidelines for what I can keep, formulating collection themes. If the items are beautiful, unique, useful, sentimental, or not too large, I try to keep. Themes include vintage jewelry, Sanrio products, letters and literature, vintage clothes, and outdated electronics that could be decorative. I thought about keeping different colored sweatpants but I'm learning to let go. 

I'm steering clear of Whole Foods napkins too. I wonder if I should take them back and sneak them into the napkin dispensers.