A Monster Weekend Update

We drove down to LA this past weekend to go to the LA fashion district, see the Wayne Thiebaud exhibit in Palm Springs, and go to the Getty. We did lots and lots of driving and some sleeping in the car too. Mike is the perfect road trip companion, an easy going guy who loves to drive. We filled the iPod with books on tape and took off late (8:30 to be exact) Thursday night, and rolled into town around 3:00 am Friday. We are terrible about getting out the door in a timely manner, something we definitely need to work on.

Fashion District: So many beautiful fabrics and notions. I had to exercise all the self control I could muster to not buy tons and tons of fabric. I ended up buying only two fabrics for myself (silk for a blouse and grey wool for a skirt) and some fabric for our project couch (!!!). This place was way more ghetto than I expected, but totally worth the trip. Michael Levine and Fabrics Fabrics are worthy of your time if you are going there. Thanks Tracy for the tips!

Palm Springs: We drove down to Palm Springs to see the Wayne Theibaud exhibit and stopped in a few shops on the way. The owner, Glenn, of the first shop we stopped in, 20 First Modern & Vintage Furnishings, was very helpful. He gave us direction to the Museum, told us where the Kaufmann House was, which neighborhoods we should check out and gave us a recommendation for a swanky place to have dinner. Plus his shop had amazing things in it, I could have been happy with anything in there.

Palm Springs Museum of Art

Some nice homes, not done justice in these pictures.

Okay, that is all for now. More tomorrow.

Bare Floors

I am kind of in love with these rugs. All that color, and detail. Yummy.

Angel by Thierry Mugler

Angel has been one of my favorite fragrances for several years, maybe even my number one favorite fragrance, but the first time I smelled Angel I hated it. When I was introduced to Angel for the first time I thought of BO on a hot bus (you know what I am talking about). I could not figure out why my friend Danielle had shelled out so much cash to smell like a sweaty dude on a hot summer day. I could not get over the overwhelming pachouli smell, and I attributed Danielle's affinity for the fragrance to that pachouli smell. I thought, it must reminded her of her college days at UC Santa Cruz.

I don't remember where I was the next time I smelled Angel but my reaction to it was completely different, and I even tried the stuff on! I came to relish that "BO" smell and every other layer of this delicious scent. Not to get too carried away, but I want to share an excerpt from Perfumes the Guide by Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez. Here is what they say about Angel and I could not agree more:

Look for Angel's Adam's apple: a handsome, resinous woody patchouli straight out of the pipes-and-leather-slippers realm of men's fragrance, in a head-on collision with a bold black currant and a screechy white floral. The two halves, masculine and feminine share a camphoraceous (mothball) smell, which gives Angel a covering of unsentimental, icy brightness above its overripe (some say "rotting") rumble. The effect kills the possibility of cloying sweetness, despite megadoses of the cotton-candy smell of ethylmaltol, leaving Angel in a high-energy state of contradictions. Many perfumes are beautiful or pleasant, but how many are exciting? Like a woman in a film who seethes, "He's so annoying!" and marries him in the end.

So there you go, a big post about a big fragrance.

We're Back

We went to LA and Palm Springs on Thursday and got back last night. More on that later.

Maths

If you have some time to waste (which I did) watch one of these look around you videos. The films make fun of educational videos.

Found on Jenn Ski.

Mouse

I am getting a little irritated with my mouse. When I scroll down the ball does not catch, and so I just scroll and scroll and nothing happens. This is the third mouse I have had since June. When I consider why my mice keep breaking I feel a little embarrassed. Am I scrolling around on too many blogs? Am I spending too much time online (I think I know the answer to that one)? Or maybe I should not eat while sitting at the computer and then use my greasy fingers on the mouse? But I am sure I've just had three defective mice, right?

Bread

Do you look at Nicole's blog a little sussy? If not you should because it is full of pretty things and little gems like bread recipes. I was at Nicole's place Friday while she was making this bread and the house smelled so good. I got the recipe and made it twice over the weekend, once at my house and once at my parent's. This bread is so delicious, and super easy to make. So stop what you are doing and go make it. Here is the recipe for Sullivan no knead bread and some prettier pictures of the bread.

Letterpress

I went to Jordan's letterpress class Saturday and made some "business" cards. It was pretty exhilarating being part of making them, and getting a little taste of what goes into the whole letterpress process. I love how you really have to use your whole body (rolling the drums over thick paper is not for sissies) to turn out the finished product. It was fun to hang out with friends and learn something new. Look here if you are interested in taking the class.

Cleopatra

The fragrances I've tried from the Tocca line, Brigitte, Stella, Cleopatra and Touch I have really liked, and I recommend trying each one out. However, Cleopatra has been my favorite so far. I like Cleopatra so well because the fragrance morphs from a pretty distinct aroma, that is strong and lovely, to a softer mellowed down scent that seems to be a close cousin or a cooler older sister to the initial scent.

Cleopatra is like Sabrina. When you first meet her you think she is a nice sweet girl but nothing too remarkable. When you meet her again after she has grown up a bit and been to Paris, you begin to appreciate that she has come into her own, and she has developed a defined but unobtrusive style you can't get enough of.

If anyone tries any of these perfumes out I would love to hear what you think. Love them or hate them I'd be curious to know.

Lassen Family

Here are a few pictures from the shoot we did last Saturday. Baby James did really well considering we put him in a freezing wind tunnel for these pictures. And I have to say, Emily is super photogenic, look at her beautiful smile. Thanks to the Lassens for having us take your pictures.

Looking for Art

I find myself looking for little bits of art to put up in our place and I always end up at etsy. Then I get really overwhelmed and I stop looking. Because really, who can navigate through everything that is there with out getting overwhelmed? So for the most part I avoid etsy. At least until I see some lovely little thing on someone's blog and the cycle starts again. 20x200 is a good place. Any suggestions for some great sellers who make beautiful art? Here are a few from etsy I like:

Yvette Inufio Photography

Ashley G and Drew

e.soule

Happy St. Patrick's Day

And happy birthday to my brother Jess.

Image from here.

Happy

I don't know if Mike would actually go for this bedding because it looks like it belongs in a little girls room. However, I am in love with it. So bright and cheery. And on sale.

New Favorite

I really love perfume, and I love discovering new favorites. When I have a bit of time to kill I will go to a departments store or a Sephora and get a few samples made. I never test them out in the store because there are always too many conflicting smells. I will try out each sample for a few days to see how I like the scent, unless it is really terrible then I just chuck the sample. It is important that I like the scent in all its stages, from the beginning top notes to the dry down at the end. Fracas is my current favorite, it is lovely and complex from beginning to end.

Candles

I could not resist buying this little whale candle at Miette the other day. Apparently they sell out so fast and that is why I have never seen their tiny menagerie. This would look darling atop a little boy's first birthday cake, though I don't think I would have the heart to actually light the little guy.

Kanes

Here is a small sampling of our photo shoot with the Kanes. I had the great honour of holding the reflector while Mike clicked away.

Dinner

No we did not eat him, but he was in our kitchen. I found this guy on my way home today. I felt pretty bad for him because he looked so pathetic sitting in the road just waiting to be hit by another car. The poor bird looked even more forlorn because a crow was hopping around pecking at him impatiently urging him to give up the ghost. Isn't there some sort of bird code about eating each other?

I called the wildlife rescue place here in San Francisco and when the guy came to pick up the bird he was surprised to see a gull. He was expecting a pigeon. I told him if it had been a pigeon I wouldn't have bothered calling.

I think the gull was just stunned because about five minutes before the wildlife man came to get him, the bird stood up stretched out his wings and wobbled around the box a bit. I was praying he did not start flying around the apartment. That would have been a nightmare, bloody bird bashing into white walls, feathers flying. Thankfully he was still pretty shaky and quickly sat down again.

Palm Springs

The Palm Springs Art Museum is showing more than 100 works by Wayne Thiebaud, just another reason I want to go to Palm Springs. Plus I've been dying to poke around in the different neighborhoods to look at all the glorious homes.

Lost, Mad Men, 24

Tonight we watched this week's episode of Lost. I felt like all my favorite shows were converging into one.

We finished watching season three of 24 a few weeks ago so who knows how much longer this lady is on the show... don't tell me! Then there was this creepy dude. Blech! Hope we don't have to see too much more of him he gives me the willies.

What do you think

about the new header?

Post Nasal Blah

Who else has a cold? This thing seems to be going around. I blame my mom for giving me this bug. Must have caught it over the phone when we talked last.

Cheese Muffins

I have to share this recipe. Emily made these fantastic muffins for dinner Wednesday. I told her about five times before we left her house that she had to give me the recipe, then I called her a few times the next day because I was so impatient to get the recipe. I was hounding her, and rightly so these muffins are that good. So here is the link for some awesome cheese muffins from Emily, from the Pioneer woman. Enjoy!

picture via the pioneer woman