I Love The Cat

We had a cozy christmas that involved a rendition of 'oh christmas tree' rewritten to say 'oh kitty cat'. We saw snow and ate lots of sweets and got lots of presents. Hope you're keeping cozy and being thoughtful about this year and the new one on the horizon. I'm taking some time to plot and plan and sleep. It feels so good.

Holiday Gift Guide and Wish List

(click the image to see it larger!)

1. Origins Incredible Spreadable Scrub. Their scents are heavanly and it's always nice to have something a little luxurious in the bath. $26.
2. APC Blue Wedges: perfect blue, simple and comfortable. Good for under tights in the winter and with a cute dress in the summer.
3. The New Terrarium because I love terrariums.
4. BUrt's Bees Super Shiny Conditioner: Smells. So. Good.
5. Wooly Pockets: 2010 will be the year of incredible indoor living walls for the masses. I'm on board.
6. Homemade Life from the blogger behind Orangette. Home, food, family, a perfect book to read over the holidays.
7. New Bedding. Haven't found the right set yet, but our bedroom needs a revamping starting with some non threadbare bedding.
8. Kusmi Tea from Paris. It's luxurious and a little fancy since it's exotic and foreign. But it's affordable to buy and comes in a gorgeous tin you can reuse. It's also perfectly delicious.
9. Cafe Du Monde Coffee is from New Orleans and about the tastiest coffee I've ever brewed at home. I wouldn't mind going to the big easy for the real thing...
10. Kitty Kitty Print for $20. Because it is so awesome.
11. Flower Arranging Lessons. This is on my list and I want Dandelion Ranch to teach a class so I can take it, Dammit.
12. A really Good Pair of Tights: these are from Seven Alan and only cost $33. Perfect, chic and simple.
13. Hitacho Nest Beer from Japan has the best label and is so tasty. I get it at Whole Foods and it makes a great hostess gift or little splurge.
14. The National Parks: America's Best Idea: I missed this when it aired but I'm a huge fan of camping, road trips and national parks so I'd love to sink my teeth into a couple hours of the history of US National Parks.
15. Faux Bois Toolbox from Alice. Just a nice, interesting tool box for getting the job done.
16. Customized Address Stamp from Paperwink for $22.
17. A.P.C. Wallet perfectly worn and adult without being flashy or over the top.

Blu Before and After

We did another Sales Office for the Kor Group down in Long Beach. They acquired the property and proceeded to rebrand. Clearly the first design direction left a lot to be desired. This one we turned around in about 2 weeks. I was busy with other clients so I wasn't as involved in the lead up to installation. But I was there for the install, let me tell you. This is one of my favorite spaces. It's rustic, modern, cozy but sleek. I'm also so happy that we ended up with this wallpaper in the sales office. Love.






This is the conference room. Nice big farm table, upholstered chairs and fun shelves with great objects and coffee table books.





This is the lobby that residents of the complex will use. The before was so dark, heavy and sad. It didn't make any sense and you definitely didn't want to hang out or spend any time there. We warmed it up, filled the wall with vintage images, wallpapered the ceiling, added some texture and made two distinct seating arrangements.








We had to reuse or repurpose furniture wherever possible and didn't repaint in the lobby, so it was incredible to see the transformation from blah to warm and cozy, modern and stylish without a complete overhaul of the original elements.

All designs are Nadia Geller Designs.

Marie's Chocolate Chips

I made cookies with my Aunt Marie last week (she is the best baker and has taught me so much: stay tuned for our adventures making madeleines) and we made our own chocolate chips her way. Basically, take a brick of the Trader Joes 70% chocolate, put it in a grocery bag and hammer the shit out of it. Nothing better for chunky gooey chocolate chip cookies. This is us having fun making them.

Blog Challenge 2009: Best Place

• France: All the incredible memories I have of my grandmother, genevieve. I wasn't able to be there for the funeral in August, but I have so many many memories of her generosity, her love, her enthusiasm for the moment and for interesting things to pick up in the street. I'm so glad I got to spend time with her in my life. She has a place in me.

• The kitchen and all the moments stolen in the kitchen when maybe I didn't have much time but I was able to create a meal, a cobbler, a salad, some cookies, a new drink concoction.


• At home with coco before she left.


• At home the day I brought hazel home.


• Ace Hotel and Sim Club, Palm Springs with E, Louis and Em. One of the best weekends ever. It was so hot, the hotel was empty ish and the food was delicious. We swam, ate, drank and just slowed way down.

• In Oregon and the moments I was able to spend with Aunt Christine. And the moment I was able to tell her how much I loved her before I had to say good bye.

I realize most of the 'places' that meant a lot to me this year were thoughtful, painful or creative. They made my life richer with meaning or just brought pure joy.

Simple, Chic Succulent Centerpiece

A couple weekends ago I set the table simply and chic-ly (I hope) and made my own succulent centerpieces. I wrote a post about how easy and inexpensive it was over on Apartment Therapy. Overall I love using living plants for decor. Have you guys used succulents or plants in centerpieces recently?

I've been eyeing Woolly Pockets for a long time but just haven't quite been able to commit a wall to that kind of endeavor. But soon my pretties, soon!

Blog Challenge 2009

I'm going to try my hand at answering some of the Best of 2009 Blog Challenge Questions between now and the new year only because I get so much out of other people's answers (like here and here) and I'm at what feels like a crossroads in many areas of my life. Rather than fret about the future and the unknown I'd like to focus some energy on learning from this year.

Also fair warning that this blog might get a little more woo woo for a little while. Hope you can handle it and stick with me!

Today's Topic: Challenge
Something that really made you grow this year. That made you go to your edge and then some. What made it the best challenge of the year for you?

This year was all about saying yes to opportunity and I reached a limit where it started to hurt me being stretched in so many directions. I'm at a place where I need to say no to some things in order to say yes to others. In some ways it has become too easy to just say yes to requests without being thoughtful about why or how I was going to accomplish something. 2008 was a slow year and 2009 has been like two years in one. I'm at the biggest part of the challenge now, facing scaling back in order to focus in on what truly matters in my life. It can be really scary to make these decisions (what if I make the wrong one, etc) but I know that on the other side is freedom, more sleep, and ultimately being able to be more present and more happy in my life.

Modernist Gingerbread Houses

All day I felt like it was starting to look a lot like Christmas. I made some homemade chai this morning (just boil cloves, cardamom and cinammon sticks on the stove for about 10 minutes and add a bit of loose leaf green tea at the end. Then add a splash of milk and some sugar) and then let the spices boil on the stove for a while. It filled the house with a really christmasy smell. Plus it's cold outside, like colder than it's been this year. So I want to stay at home and nest and wrap presents and make gingerbread houses like these Modernist Ones on Apartment Therapy.

Custom Address Stamp

Seriously, in one morning, I've become obsessed with custom address stamps. I've narrowed it down to these from PaperWink.

Bauer Canoe Pot

Have you guys seen this arrangement from the december issue of Sunset? I love the seeded eucalyptus but absolutely love the container it's in. It's the Bauer Pottery Canoe Pot made here in LA. I can't wait to see what the next product in the Home by Sunset line.

Update: If anyone needs to get me a present, I'd love one of these in white!

Busy Bee

More soon, but for now I'm deep into another install for the Kor Group with Nadia. This one is in Long Beach and it involves this wallpaper:



It's been described as a floral that's not a floral. I like it, it's jungle-y and floral-y and retro-y and still a little modern. We'll be close to done friday, right now the space is empty. The next 24 hours will reveal a lot.

Dumplings

Spent a fantastic day yesterday learning about dumplings from a master. We even got to try out a delicious recipe perfect for fall and winter from my new favorite cookbook--thanks Wai! Plus I got to catch up with an old friend and mentor, Yvette Roman. (She taught me how to print in a darkroom way back when and gave me my first medium format camera -- this beauty. See her amazing photography here.)

Stay tuned for a post all about dumplings on the kitchn next week!