I want to go to : Austin, TX

I love to travel and at least once a day the idea of visiting a new country or city flashes through my mind. The fact that Pinterest (view my just started Oh Holiday) has a new way of pinning gave the final push. I love to save and to make lists and to map too!!! So that's why I start this new item here:  "I want to go to".

I first wanted to take off with South-Africa, very high on my travelwhishlist, but that's for next time.

Here we go with Austin, Texas and around.

Why o why Austin, TX?

1. I'm a North-Americana lover

Over the years I visited the West Coast twice, spend a month in the Canadian Rockies and British Columbia and a mid week in New York. I just think it's great, the raw culture we all know from TV, the spirit that everything is possible and especially the wideness of nature is breathtaking. (extra and very heavy weight reason Whole Foods Market)

© Katrijn Van Giel

Photographs from friend and number 1 travel companion Katrijn Van Giel, on her website (click Westkust) you can see her report of the trip we made from Seattle to San Francisco. ©Katrijn Van Giel

2. The state Texas

I know Texas as a European, as the very very very conservative state with a lot of howdiho farmers and lonesome cowboys. I just want to see how it really is, experience a bit of this too and enjoy the atmosphere of the environment. (search for Texas in google images and you get, landscape, cowboy & nature as options :))

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3. The food

A while ago I saw an article passing that Austin has a great food culture and vegan friendly kitchen.

I was pleasantly surprised with the wide range of good food in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and even in between. Mmmmm I'm mouthwatering if I think back about it. So my expectations are there and being so close to Mexico, the tex-mex food is definitely something to go for too. Find a list of US-vegan friendly cities here and Austin's veggie bites here. (I'm not really a vegan neither a real vegetarian, but I like to eat healthy food and consciously deal with my meat consumption.)

Contigo, Austin (source: Kinfolk city guide)

A reliable source for nice places: the city guides at Kinfolk, hopefully it'll grow when I'll travel there.

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The Basket : Ode to Things

Ode to Things is a new online shop specialized in pure and well-designed kitchen and tableware. It's not very cheap, but it all are things to invest in.

I love that they have the Japanese tea (or to preserve other dry things) cans in copper and brass. Copper is perfect to use in the kitchen because of its antibacterial effect and the cans get more beautiful when aged. These are from the brand Syuro, who produce a wide range of handmade items in wood, leather, copper, .... all in a perfect Japanese minimalism.

A while ago I also crossed the folder of another brand Kaikado, they have similar caddies in a wider range with over 130 years of experience. On their website is a lot of information and they also show the really cool aging process after 10 years, 20 years and even 40 years for the different materials (brass, copper, tin).

I think I'll start saving and start a collection, with hopefully after 10 years a collection of different ages.

Eye See : Comfy Shoes

2 brands I came across who both make shoes that extremely comfortable, perfect to wear on Sundays.
(Oh I wish I could afford all the things I'm posting here...but hey it's good to keep on dreaming and to make choices.)

Twins for Peace sneakers X charity
(the beaded ones!!)

Veeshoo sneakers X italian craftsmanship
(zip off and fold, easy for travellers)

The Basket : So Christmas 2013

Remember Nuji? Well it's my favorite tool which combines 2 things I love to do: browse webshops and organise the things I like into lists. They invited me to make my Christmas whishlist and on top of that they are giving away the coolest outfit (see the picture below?!!) which I would love to win. So fingers crossed!

(check the other christmas whishlists and compete as well: here)

Design Joy : High Tea with Tom Dixon

I'm not always a big fan of Tom Dixon designs, it's not always my cup of tea, but this Form Tea Set in spunned brass is really nice. It has this art deco feel that could come straight from Istanbul.

Eye See : Daniel Emma

The Australian designer duo Daniel Emma (Daniel To & Emma Aiston) is responsible for some of the finest stationery I've ever saw. Small objects to keep paperclips, presses to hold your paper down or vessels to put in your pencils (or small flowers). All of it is created in a colorful and straightforward geometric way. I could say D.E. brings us back to design base, where the functionality is reduced into a simple yet beautiful form.

The duo also has an exhibition coming up in December at Lamington Drive (Victoria, Australia), that's rather far for me, so I really look forward to see some of photo's afterwards.

(all photo's www.daniel-emma.com)