Manly gifts

In less than a week we will be celebrating T's birthday and I still haven't bought anything yet. Been racking my brain for ideas and went online for suggestions.

As a gadget crazed man, he might like the Powermat.  (USD 79). A beauty that hides all the nasty wires and will charge your iphone, psp or ipods at the same time. 3 gadgets at one go and it's portable too. Simply roll up and pack it with you when you travel or put in the office or bedroom. This gift is more for me as I hate wires.

 

As a coffee nut, T has been using his trusty Rancilio espresso machine for 8 years now. He was suggesting it was time for an upgrade. To one that is shinier, up to date and well higher quality that his old machine. I have no clue about coffee machines but I thought this portable one was cute and would be great for camping or whenever he's in the office. The mypressi, at USD 129 is a lot more affordable than the shiny ones that he was lusting after.

And what about this great looking bbq, a recycled whisky barrel. Bit rustic but wouldn't it  be cool to have? Z picked this as the perfect gift after I introduced her to uncrate.com. a buying guide for men. It is over the top to pay USD 950 just for an old barrel though.

So back to the drawing board. 

About 6 years back, I bought T two paintings from a Singaporean artist Manjeet Shergill for his birthday. Back then she had a tiny studio in Chip Bee Gardens and I contacted her because I had seen one of her works in a gallery in Bangkok. 

 

 (That's Manjeet looking rather glum)

Her paintings are usually of a single subject / object and she chooses lines and colours that are quite plain but striking. Here's one of the painting.

I loved the calmness that the painting protrayed so I brought it along to Doha. We found a place for it on the wall in the living room but it is still sitting on the floor, yet to be hung. The other painting was much larger and it was of a lady in red which 3we both loved but kept in storage back in Malaysia.

Here are some of her works then.

 

She stopped painting for several years and I was not able to look her up again. I just found out that in 2009, she returned to the scene, with a new collection called Sons and Lovers.

Since we already have two of her paintings, I wouldn't look at getting him another of her works but have my eye on something else. It will be delivered after his birthday because I just found out about this product. Will blog about it after I surprise him. Fingers crossed.