At Your Leisure

On of my favorite people, Jonathan of Happy Mundane, has put out a zine called At Your Leisure that I just bought and cannot wait to read. As an homage to the rapidly deflating print magazine world he's put out something full of bits and bobs and inspiration and an example of living what you love and, as Charles Eames put it, taking your pleasure seriously.

Buy a copy for $10 right here.





Images are from poppytalk.

Room and Board Culver City

I think I forgot to ever post these pictures of the new Room and Board in Culver City. Great showroom, beautiful furniture, way out of my price range.

Some odds and ends

I find myself way behind on the internet due to lots of work and trying to repriorotize my life to include down time.

So here's a bunch of stuff I just got sidetracked on that makes me dream of a more glamorous life where I have time to do my hair and go shopping and even make stuff.

Wiksten Made: a blog all about style (but good style, not overstyled style) and fashion. I want all of her clothes and especially her red tights.

a perfect messy bun

Morgan's new guest room. Wow, what a difference. I had seen the before in person and that is quite a change. She's one talented lady (more on her soon!).

I want to eat this jam

I also love this girl's slightly tomboy style

That's all for now...

30 at 30. Ish.

So a bunch of people have been posting 30 things they want to accomplish before they turn thirty. Well, I already turned 30 about 2 months ago, but I still felt inspired. Work has been nonstop for me this year so I really want to be proactive about spending some time having fun, seeing friends and catching up on stuff I've put aside for "later" before the end of this year. So here is my incomplete list:

1. Have a picnic at the Arroyo
2. Clean out all my stuff at my dad's storage
3. Decorate our bedroom
4. Go for a hike to an abandoned mine (up Lake in Altadena)
5. Go for a walk with Jamie at Griffith Park and then eat at the cafe.
6. Update and expand my photography website.
7. Update my bio for Dwell
8. Have lunches and dinners with all the lovely ladies I network with but who I would want to hang out with even if we weren't networking.
9. Have my xmas presents all bought and wrapped by december 1.
10. Make these brownies and these cookies
11. Get as many massages as I can.
12. Go for walks at least 3x a week.
13. Get enough rest.

Gorgeous Poppies

I had a friend visiting from Korea last week (we actually met in Art school in Paris almost ten years ago). It was her first trip to LA and she wanted to see what was going on in the art scene. We ended up swinging by some galleries in Culver City and we both agreed that the best art we saw was this little vignette of poppies by the sign in book in one of the galleries.

On a related note: Trader Joes has peonies again! GO BUY THEM!

Distrito Capital Hotel by Joseph Dirand

I'm loving the simple palette and geometry of this hotel in Mexico designed by Joseph Dirand via the contemporist. Joseph Dirand and Landa Arquitectos have done a bunch of impressive hotels that balance simplicity with warmth and a touch of something rustic. Especially love this restaurant. The grey walls have so much texture that the interiors feel warm and cozy despite being totally minimal. Also, I'm completely jonesing to go on a road trip or an extended vacation. Or become a house wife. I want some time to swim in the internet looking at beautiful things and then still have time to go out and make my home a reflection of all the things I love. Who's with me?

Finally left the house. It was a gorgeous day and I met my friend Jamie for a little coffee and bite to eat at le Figaro in Los Feliz. We ended up spending hours around that little table talking and catching up and it felt so good to be out and about again. I do wish the weather would cool down a bit.

Jamie and I both agreed that Los Feliz is the closest thing LA's got to being like San Francisco.

Favoite San Francisco Spots

So last weekend, before I got sick, I was in San Francisco for a wedding. I had a whole morning to myself and packed a lot in. San Francisco is one of my favorite cities: it's beautiful, it's got the kind of weather I love and it's filled with so many possibilities for food and flavor that it boggles the mind. I basically ate my way through that morning:

First stop, blue bottle, an independent coffee roaster and quite the hip little place. It's the Bay Area's Intelligentsia (if you will):


Just take a look for yourself, the space is gorgeous: high ceilings, lots of natural light, a minimal interior, and...


these things. I don't know what they're called (siphons?). But gosh aren't they interesting in a turn of the century TESLA kind of a way?


Also, the best latte I've ever had. It was smooth like hot chocolate but still very much coffee. I'm a dedicated sugar adder and I didn't need a single grain of sugar to drink this mother down.


I was also starving so I ordered what they call a gravis murphy: baked potato with some of the potato scooped out, filled with scrambled eggs and topped with cheddar cheese. Delicious. And easy enough to make for a brunch (maybe a christmas brunch that's casual?).

Next up, Miette Confiserie et Pattisserie:

I went by their stall at the Ferry Building and decided I needed to see the real shop so I went over to their Hayes Valley Locale and was not disappointed.



The shop is styled as an old fashioned confectioner: a cross between main street USA and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Yes!

They're known for the Macarons (I think) but I opted instead for some of their cookies (chocolate chip and lavender shortbread) and an old fashioned cupcake. Delicious.


I promise I ate lunch soon after this, but I forgot to take a picture: it was an apple, walnut and bleu cheese salad and it was good. So good that I decided I needed a little bit of ice cream to finish it off. So off I went to the Bi Rite Creamery in the mission.

Bi Rite is a creamery that produces small batches of ice cream using local/organic ingedients whenever possible. I was tempted to get a more unusual flavor like balsamic strawberry or creme fraiche but opted instead for what I was craving: cookies and cream and coffee toffee.


The weather was perfect so I walked with my cone and checked out all the people doing the scavenger hunt along Valencia (I think it was organized by 826 Valencia). It was lovely and then it was time to go to the wedding.

home sick

oh i'm home wrapped up with my hazelnut and I'm sick. Had a glorious weekend in San Francisco and woke up today feeling meh. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks: the aches, the chills, the headache, the cough! God willling it isn't swine flu. If anyone knows how I can try not to get E and the girls sick, let me know.

Blog Out Loud Event

Hope you guys can make it out to this Blog Out Loud Event in Santa Monica. Yours Truly will be on the panel along with Gregory from AT, Haily Zaki (one of my favorite people), Alissa Walker (someone I totally admire) and Emily Goligoski of the sanfranista who I can't wait to meet!

WestEnd Lofts

Just noticed that WestEnd added images of the lofts we worked on to their website. Looks pretty fancy (if I do say so myself). See some before and afters right here.

My Favorite Bedroom Right Now, Plus Some Others

It's Cure Time over on Apartment Therapy and I need it. I'm scaling back my posts over there (and some of my other responsibilities) so that I can focus back on having a place I love. So while I'm writing posts about the Cure, I'm going to be participating to the best of my ability.

I've lived with E for almost 9 months and I still more or less want to kill myself every time I walk through the door. I don't need this place to be magazine worthy, I just want to want to be here. So here are some images up for inspiration. Above is another amazing room from AB Chao. Thanks to Down Pipe and some yellow, this room is awesome. I might be ripping it off very soon.

Otherwise, these are some bookmarked images I have in my files. My apologies, I haven't kept track of where they came from, so if you know, please chime in!






(This one is Maxwell's Bedroom, from AT and even though he wants to change it, I love it as is.)

This would make me so happy

especially if it was cats instead. Thanks Lacey for the tip! From Retronevation.

I'm in Living Etc!

So I got the latest Living Etc in the mail and....dear friends, I'm in it! They used my photo of the books in the rafters for their 'living with books' article and called it a 'clever idea':
I'm also quoted in it talking about where the idea came from (my dad's time on boats and small spaces that need storage).
Overall I'm so excited, Living Etc. is my very favorite interior decor magazine, so this is a total honor!