T-Trove Asian Decor Blog

Journey to the west is a popular Chinese tale.  It is an adventure story of Monkey King  protecting a monk on a long journey to India for Buddhist sutras.

Monkey King  has many special skills,  including transforming himself into 72 different people, animals, or objects; traveling thousands of miles in a flip of his cloud; or lifting a ton in a turn of a hand.  The one trick I am most envious of is  his ability to transform each hair on his body into a clone of himself.

Been a small business owner, there are always things to order, people to call, places to be, paperwork to be done.  And sometimes, I would close my eyes and see 10 of me hard at work and getting everything done the right way — my way.  As the busy season start, this crazy idea has been popping into my head more and more frequent.  If I am like the King, I would use I-robots to do all the work and chores.  I can, then, go on a nice long vacation.  Just thinking about this gives me a big smile

Today, I thought about what if everyone has this ability to make copies of himself. The clones can do anything you already knew but cannot lean any new skills or knowledge.  They have the same reaction to things as you would.  Would the world be more industrious or just having more lazy people  taking up couch spaces in front of  TVs?  Each department of a big cooperation probably only need a couple persons. A small business like ours wouldn’t need to hire any employee. A doctor could help hundreds of patients everyday…  On the other hand, if all of us were as naughty as the Monkey King, the whole world would turn upside down in no time.

If you are not familiar with the Monkey King, make sure to pick up a book or rent a movie about him.   He will take you along on his life adventure and inspire a few mischievous ideas of fun.

It seems like we get almost more soliciting phone calls than regular business ones on daily basis.  When Andrea Gomez, a photographer from Sunset magazine, called my cell phone while we were at a trade show in Atlanta, I was a bit skeptical.  With bad cell phone reception, the conversation for the photo-shoot appointment was brief.  Thinking it is probably a small publication with a similar name, who maybe wants us to pay for a small advertisement to go along with the article, we didn’t get too excited about it and carried on with business as usual.

Andrea showed up and snapped a few pictures of the store & Elliot in late January.  After  someone from the editing office called to verified information and I got to ask a few more questions, it finally sunk in that we are ACTUALLY going to be in the western region edition of the Sunset magazine in April.

That was back in February and we forgot about it till one of our customer e-mailed and said she saw us in the Sunset Magazine this week.  We went out and bought my very first copy of  Sunset and was very happy to see a 1/3 page picture with write up on the store towards the front (pg. 24) of the magazine.

This is the first time we’ve been in a nationally recognized publication.  We are not just happy to receive some free advertisement but more excited about people think we are worth mentioning.  We had no idea about the “secret shopper” who discovered us to the magazine, but glad to know that we made everyday visitor feel special with our product and services.

Of course, Elliot got more attention since he was mentioned the very first word of the very first sentence.  We have had several new customers visiting already because our appearance. This is an energy boost for us to keep going and better ourselves.  Thank you Andrea for a great picture and Sunset magazine for featuring us!!

The purse hangers was ordered for the holiday season last summer.  Although they don’t qualify as completely “Asian style”, but I thought they be useful holiday presents for the ladies who have everything (like my mom).

We display the hangers by the cash register since they needed some show and tell to the customers.  They were popular among ladies, but more men pick them up to play with them.   Surprisingly, male customers also bought more of these purse hangers as gifts then female.  I think it is because the hangers are modern in design with the shinny metal and mechanical features.  They also  solve a problem that many people face when eating out.

I kept one that was scratched when the shipment arrived.  Since the holiday season was busy, we didn’t eat out much.  The purse hanger sat in my bag for good 2 months and  I finally got to use it at Atlanta during the show last week.  After been to several restaurants and tried it out on different tables, I must say that I love it.  My purse was heavy from been stuffed with business cards, catalogs, orders, bottled water and other things.  The hanger not only held up the heavy bag right under the table, it help me keep an eye on valuables in crowded restaurants.   Now my fat purse doesn’t fight with me for seating space and won’t slip to the floor from open chair backs.

Although this was suppose to be the one holiday thing, I think I will order more and have them in the store a bit longer.  After using one, I think the purse hanger would be great birthday, friendship & office gift for everyone who carries a purse around.

Mid-Autumn Festival is one of three major holidays in the Chinese culture.  The other two been Chinese New Year and Duanwu Festival (Dragon Boat Festival).

Mid-Autumn Festival is on 15th of the 8th month in the Lunar calendar.  This means that the moon is always round and full on this holiday.  Therefore, many of the traditional festival celebrations are in the evening and outdoors to enjoy the bright harvest moon.

Although I haven’t been seriously celebrating this holiday since coming to America years ago.  This use to be one of my favorite holidays as a child.  Like everyone else, my parents would set up a charcoal barbecue in the early evening when the moon is just showing up.  After an out door dinner where we snack and play through out, Dad would take us out for a walk with lanterns on a stick in our hands.  The paper lanterns with a small red cake candle inside usually catches on fire and completely burned down half way through the walk.  The poor lanterns just didn’t stand a chance with my brother and I shaking them and trying to out walk each other.  Maybe because my brother’s caught on fire first, I don’t remember been devastated even after the first lantern burned down.  Later, in 3rd or 4th grade, we made lanterns out of tin cans by punching one with lots of nail holes and hang them with wires on a stick.  These ones don’t burn down anymore and the candle light reflections from the metal just makes the lanterns more mesmerizing to stare at in our after dinner walks.  These days, most lanterns are mass produced and battery operated with fancy designs and colors.  Very pretty to look at still, but they were just not as much fun to walk with since you don’t have to worry about the little fire bouncing around inside anymore.

Moon cake and fireworks are the next highlight of the evening.  The small cake filled with red bean past and a yellow yoke inside is the most traditional and still the best with a cup of green or oolong tea.  Since a moon cake is usually rich and sweet, it’s cut up in smaller pieces to savor with cups of tea while enjoying the fireworks and the full moon.

At the New York show a few weeks ago, I met Mrs. Keiko Iida, a Japanese fabric designer, who drawn up beautiful patterns for bags, hair pieces, tassels and home accessories. Her bold colored designs in traditional patterns make everything looked cheerfully luxurious ~ Japanese style.

Our store already carries a small line of her product from the San Francisco show early this year.  At that time, I imagined the designer been a very high styled lady with an “artist look”, like some of the fashion designers seen on TV.  In person, Mrs. Iida is a very sweet mom-like lady who dressed plain except a couple small accessories that she designed. She very kindly greeted me, introduced herself simply as Keiko with the Japanese politeness and accent. Although she spoke little English, I felt her warmth in personality and saw the bright colors of her design in her expressions.

Maybe because I have spent some time in Japan, I liked Keiko’s product at first sight. Now I’ve met her in person, I love her designs even more, especially the new line of chrysanthemum place-mats and runners in orange, purple, or green.  I can just see them on a dark table with crisp white dishes.  It is picture perfect for any holiday or special meal.

Some people think her hair pieces in bold colors are too hard to match clothing. The truth is, I have been using the hair clips and barrettes for more than half a year, and they seem to match most of my outfit because there are many colors working together.

I wished I snapped a picture with her at the show, but I didn’t have my camera.  I did, however, ask for her autograph and she signed in both Japanese Kanji and English.  From now on, I will think of pleasant Keiko San when I see her pieces in my dresser drawer or on our store shelves.

I am so excited that T-Trove got its own blog!

Dancing Cat

I feel there is almost always something to say about everything in the store, and just not really sure where to start or if people are interested to listen while they are focused on shopping.

There is a lot to say about the Asian culture & history that comes in the product collection and shopping experiences in our store. I really hope this space would become a bridge for sharing thoughts and stories among our customers, vendors, and friends. Not just about things, but also people and connections of experiences.

This is where we start ~ the stories of T-Trove.
Welcome to our Blog.