Here is to kickin' ass with Gold Lame in 2009

I rather dislike New Years Eve.

When I was younger I attempted to do the party thing, the big fabulous- make a big deal out of nothing-thing. Somewhere in my 30's I just got tired of pretending it was something special, this ordinary night, and went to sleep early. Against my better judgement, we're headed out to a gathering tonight. It will be nice to see my friends who have made the big effort of this event but really what I want to do is watch a movie in bed. That's the kind of exciting I am.

It's been an interesting year this 2008. I think you'll all agree it's been a doozy. So I thought I would don my best kick ass heels for you today and begin the year as a Diva Super Hero, and wish you a gold-lame-spike-heel-bad-ass-2009.


Photo: JD Ferguson for V magazine because, I seriously think if we all wore these Super Hero shoes from Rodarte for just a bit of time, to the grocery store, to the mall, maybe even to Target that we could change the world with kick-ass-ness.

Benjamin Button

I think Cate Blanchett is my new fav. Like, I mean, more beautiful than Mr. Pitt's real girl. I'm not joking. I of course say that after seeing Benjamin Button last night. I can't say enough good things about the movie. Really make an effort to go see this in the theater. As my guy said driving home, just when you think you've seen every story imaginable on screen they do something like this. The special effects are astounding. I think it might be one of the greatest love stories ever.

My Favorite part? The post cards he writes toward the end. I won't say anymore and ruin it. Thats when I really lost all my grace and composure. Here is a trailer incase you're across the world or haven't watched TV in a while.

New Years Eve Makeup -liquid eyeliner

The last time I attempted liquid eyeliner I was 12 and in my girlfriends mom's makeup bag. It was wiggily hard to get a line, wet and cold. I never attempted again.

I got a little wacky and purchased Covergirl's Line Exact liquid liner pen which I have to say is kinda brilliant. Shaped and handles like a felt tip pen, it's easy to do and easy on the purse. I went with the gray version and have to give the color itself a thumbs down. It's too blue and needs a little more black in it to make it a richer color but I liked the liner enough to go back and try the black one. Plus, if it's good enough for Angie, you know it's good enough for me.

One Quarter

A quarter, 25 cents, .25 inches. It doesn't seem like much standing alone but when applied to something crucial it becomes so important. Yesterday I was made aware of how much .25 inches makes, say in a pair of jeans for instance. I put on my new jeans from my pre-christmas sale purchase. I own the same pair of jeans, same size, same company yet I suspect that whomever was making them was off from the pattern by a measly .25 inches or less. They fit very differently than my other pair.



The reason I say this is that they are just a little more snug than the first pair I purchased, just off by a hair. Enough off to trigger an all day bad mood that I could not pinpoint until I took them off late in the day. I barked at my guy for no reason and cursed traffic that was ordinary. Until the .25 inch thing came into mind. .25 inches makes you painfully aware of your muffin top, that you ate a second helping of homemade mac and cheese, or had a dessert 2 days in a row over the holidays, or perhaps even had a handful of M&M's when normally you would have not. It also reminds you you have not been on a walk in some time, or to a yoga class for months.

A quarter of an inch, say in your spine, makes things very different as well. Say when the muscles in your left side contract compensating for the surgery on the right and your leg is .25 inches shorter [or more] and throws your gait off just enough to cause pain. Say, like an ice pick in your left hip 24-7. That is something I deal with regularly these days.



A quarter of a second makes a lifetime of a difference when someone decides to run a red light because they are in a hurry holiday shopping. A good friend and client was hit on her sportbike a couple of weeks ago when a woman ran a light. She nearly bled to death during surgery where they put together her pelvis with metal plates. I would venture to say that a quarter of an inch [or less] makes a big difference when it involves your broken pelvis. That quarter of a second and quarter of an inch involves multiple surgeries, a couple of broken bones, and 3+ months in the hospital which is much more critical than my jeans and a lot less fun.

What's the point in all this? I don't know really. I guess to say there is a lot to be said for just a little. A little bit of time, a little bit of money, a little bit [or less] on your plate. God is really in the details and I hope you get to enjoy the little things this holiday season with your loved ones.

Things That Make My Heart Melt

Santa is bringing my 8 yr old nephew a new fancy bed. Plots are being made so that he stays at Grandma's house Christmas Eve so that Santa may install said bed. There were concerns that it may be difficult to pry him away from the house and Santa's arrival. I think my brother and sister-in-law have been working on him for a while now so that he thinks it was his idea. My mom [Grandma] got a call the other night from him. The conversation went something like this, as told to me by my mom:

[H] Grandma, I was thinking of coming over on Christmas Eve to stay the night with you so you're not lonely.

[G] Oh good, I was worried about being lonely that night, I would love for you to come over and stay with me.

[H] I mean, I know Aunt Richie will be there but I just want to make sure you were ok.

[G] Oh honey, Aunt Richie isn't coming this year, she's going back East to stay with Chris' family. So I will be all alone.

[H] Ok, then for sure I'll come over to keep you company so you're not by yourself.

[G] I think that would be great.

I mean, seriously...does it get any cuter than that?

--------
I'm heading back east for the holidays. If I don't get a chance to post anything have a very merry Christmas.

A week of gift ideas Day 3: The Girl

Ok, so I'm not doing so well with this list thing, I mean I'm wrapping gifts with packing tape at this point. It's a disaster. Plus, anyone still shopping is probably on a mercy shop, right?

But if I can just give one word of warning to husbands, boyfriends and the like.... no household stuff. This means, yes, she wants a set of knives for the kitchen but NOT FOR CHRISTMAS [or birthday or anniversary], this also means no vacuum cleaners. Trust me on this. To illustrate this point I might direct you to this very funny, funny clip.



Total props to JC Penney and their agency Saatchi & Saatchi, New York awesome work.

A week of gift ideas Day 2: The Dude

For the manly man.



Do you follow the Satoralist [see Those Shoes]? He's been showing some of these guys lately. I think it's sort of funny since my guy has been the plaid, Red Wing guy forever.Red Wing Boots JCrew.

Speaking of Dude how about some plaid?:



Filson is another company my guy turned me onto and that I've been seeing mentioned in men's fashion lately. During his days as a fly-fishing guide this was the stuff that really worked and lasted forever. Their wool is unbelievably soft and beautiful. This western style shirt is super cute on him with cuffed jeans, a tee and some converse. On Super Sale right now too $78 I bought my dad one of their wool shirts last year for his birthday and his testament to the quality was "hey, it feels nice and all the plaids match up" Gotta love dad!

PJ's


It's effin' cold out there folks! [I say as it just hit 60 degrees here] PJ's RULE. He's going to tell you he doesn't need or want them. Then, he'll totally wear em' and you'll have to pry them out of his dirty little paws in 5 days to get them to the washer. Target has a smokin' deal $14.99 on sets available in store.



I mean please. How can you go wrong with a gray v-neck sweater on any guy? perfect for any man from funky to conservative, to Dad to brother. I think Gray is the perfect non-color as well. May I suggest Merino wool? totally wears well, and last a long time. Look for the high V on the neck.

A week of gift ideas Day 1: The Foodie

Day 1: The Foodie

A Day At El Bulli You may have not heard of El Bulli but if you have a foodie to gift this season, he or she has.

Worldly known as the best chef and restaurant in the world. Spain's El Bulli Restaurant headed by Chef Ferran Adria has reservation requests topping 2 million, with only 8,000 spots available. You do the math, not so likely you and I will get in. This super chunky book has pics of the staff, menus and prep along with info about the day to day workings of The best in fine dining.
$32.97 via Amazon



via Publishers Weekly:
An enormous undertaking, this monumental tome, complete with more than 1,000 photographs, chronicles one day at revolutionary eatery elBulli in northern Spain, arguably one of today's most influential restaurants. Adria, the culinary genius behind this success, along with restaurant manager Soler and brother and fellow chef Albert give the reader a firsthand look at day-to-day activities and the innovation for which elBulli is known. Lavish photographs are the main attraction in this work; text is sparse and offers only glimpses into activities. While there is an examination of the team's creative methods, most topics are only touched upon briefly, such as creative sessions, testing and utilizing a mental palate. Given the highly technical nature of the dishes served at elBulli, recipes (Pine Nut Marshmallows; Steamed Brioche with Rose-scented Mozzarella) are rare. A glance behind the scenes at a pivotal time and place in culinary evolution, this book will delight serious foodies, and its stunning package guarantees it will grace many a coffee table. (Oct.) --Publishers Weekly

Other ideas for your foodie
subscription to Wine Spectator or a cities Michelin Guide $11.53
••••••••
REAL EATS

Send them a mountain of cheese:


My dad who's a cheddar man to the core, recently said I got him hooked on a cheese from Zingerman's when I sent a B-Day gift treat one year. I love this company not only for their foods but for their business practices. Employees become part owners and part of the foods they offer are grown from local farms or sourced from local dairys.

The mountain of cheese is a gift boxed collection of cheeses from Switzerland, northern Italy and wherever mountain style cheesemaking thrives. $75. They also have kits from France, and A cheese of the Month club.

Or perhaps you could send a "loving heart attack in a box"Go ahead you know you wanna.
Praise the Lard box. When bacon just isn't enough. $75
or
Bacon of the month club $99 [3 months] or 6 months $180 when bacon, is all you need.

Nice is nice

I am nervous about a lot of things right now, my job, the economy, the world. This made me a little less worried. Because in the end we can make our universe anything we want it to be with a little thought, a lot of creativity and good people.

via Superhero Journal. Thank you

Call Me Crazy...

Call me crazy....but I do not want my house to smell like hashish EVER. But if you do, you now can do it legally and most likely without any of the fun via Jonathan Adler.

Based on some of his pottery, Jonathan must be a big ol' pot head along with his husband Simon Doonan the creative director of Barney's who's campaign of "have a hippie holiday" falls oddly in line with it all.

This made me smile today

This ice cream parlor called Serendipity 3 that is opening in Boca Raton Hotel in Florida is a branch of the original in New York. It reminded me of a Foster Freeze when I was little in Woodland,CA. Now I want an ice cream with whip cream and fudge on it.


I know it's not much ... I'm finding a few words but things might look a little like this for a bit.

I'm Spent

I'm spent. Tapped out. All out of juice. Taking off a couple days to possibly find a creative thread left, maybe even something interesting and witty to say! Whoo nelly... that would be big.

nice coins via this lovely person

little people

I've been busy this weekend with new freelance projects, one of which was a photography client [their children really]. The cutest family ever.

Friday Fun

The Tag

Capturing the Seven and Lucky Seven Cat Ranch tagged me to do the 6 things -dealio. This is perfect because I had nothing to write about tonight so here ya go: 6 mundane things you may not know about me.


1. I'm horrible with technology and kinda afraid of it really.
I have no idea how I ended up blogging or writing for Apartment Therapy way back when. Computers and all their stuff freak me out. I use them because I have to. I can do it, but it takes me a really long time and I lose brain cells every minute I have to play the IT person at my office or fix and repair the many printers we have that freak out on a regular basis. Somehow I got relegated to that roll unofficially. Speaking of...can anyone help me figure out how to rehook up my Google analyics? I updated my site in Sept and I lost everything. I'll totally send you a prize in the mail if you make it work. Yes, I added the code but nada. Check out my Google graph above Snazzy hu?



2.I dream of doing invites to fashion shows: right now I'm obsessed with Rodarte who are a Los Angeles sister duo.
I do these wedding invites [which I love] and such, as you may see occassionally pop up here. But my super big dream is to do a invite for a major fashion house's runway show. I love fashion so much, and this is the way I see myself having this mini link to what they do. I have an idea that I'm working on currently so I'm working on making this dream a reality.

I am the black, art sheep of my family
3. I was mentioning this to a long time girlfriend the other day and she was surprised to learn that most of the women in my family own their own guns. My mom, aunt and grandma [although she's too old to do so now] all own their own rifles and go deer hunting every year. My family are hunters in general: duck, pheasant, deer ect. I'm the artsy-fartsy one that wanted to rent the movies with subtitles and go to the ballet. They never knew what to do with me.



4. I really, really want to learn to speak French.
Dunno why...just do. I haven't done a damn thing about it though, probably because I'm afraid I can't do it. I cheated my way through Spanish in high school so odds are it's going to be a hard road. Me and memorization...not so good together.

5. I'm turning 40 next May.
My goal is to get carded sometime next year. I know this is really dumb in the spectrum of things but I've put a lot of time and money into keeping the wrinkles at bay with SPF everyday and my obsessive Clairins habit [nothing else!]. I still get carded now and again but must admit...it's been a few months at this point.

6. I keep my fingernails really short.
In highschool I use to be obsessed with long fingernails. They were a full time project painting every day, filing etc. One day I saw a guy friend of mine with a long pinky nail and the reality of what fingernails are really grossed me out. I cut them all off and have kept them properly short ever since. But, since then, I have a hard time wearing anything but a pale pink or clear on my hands, I end up feeling like a hooker...but my toes? Bring on the red.


7. And a bonus just because it's funny:
Starting in the 3rd grade probably through the 6th, I use to curl my hair in giant feathered wings [remember those?] and because I wanted my hair to stay perfect all day long I would spray on gobs of hairspray. So much so, that when the wing caught my hair on the playground the wings would stand out at attention from my head. Funny enough, I don't even use hairspray any more. Can you imagine a giving a third grader a curling iron? Lordie, I wanted to be 15 from the time I was born.

I've lost my gift mojo

I've been known to give good gift. I didn't realize I was a good gift giver until I lived with my friend April and she pointed it out to me. I just thought I paid attention. She said I was different than most, which is great, I mean, I guess, to be known for that sort of thing. She of course felt stressed that she had to reciprocate and then this thing that came naturally to me, became a OMG I have to think of something better than last year. It's not her fault, it's the over-achiever in me. This year for her birthday I totally choked and all I could muster up was a pair of earrings. They were pretty, hand pounded, silver earrings, but just earrings. It made me sad that my mojo officially left the building.

[Big Jim was a sentimental childhood toy of a guy I dated, he was stunned I found it and that I remembered. I even managed to find it in a box in Spanish which was his native language. ]

Previously, I've been known to scour Ebay for vintage toys because someone mentioned a special toy they had as a child, buy someone an ipod and steal their CD's to load them up prior to wrapping, often they weren't large gifts but I attempted to put a lot of thought into them things like a "date kit" complete with labeled box gift certificates for dinner and a movie [babysitting if needed], Movie kits with Jiffy Pop and favorite DVD's. The Diva Kit which is great for girlfriends [works great on birthdays too] complete with red lipstick, fishnets and various other treats. I was big on kits.

[Jiffy Pop is cute but individual microwave bags are better unless you have kids to do the work]

I think I used up all my good ideas. All I can form together right now are chinos from JCrew for C. this Christmas. Chinos? are you kidding me? That's IT. That's all I've got right now. He's to blame if you ask me. The man never wants for anything. He's not one of those people who talks about "stuff". He lives simply, maybe covets a shirt here or there but that's about it. I need a "I wish I had blah, blah, blah" mention in September or even July to file away. Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

[The last good gift I gave him, which was pretty awesome really, was a surf board he'd been coveting since the day I met him.]

I have to begin my shopping this weekend. Things have to be packed and shipped for the rest of the families and I have no friggin idea what I'm doing. Mojo please come back I need you.

How about you? Gifts? And don't tell me you're done.

It might be time for a new set

I generally look like a crazed homeless person after 6pm. I'm sitting in front of my computer right now with pink polka dotted pjs that once were flannel and have paint splatters on them from 8 years ago, a thermal tee turned inside out, a giant wooly red scarf and socks. I don't know what happens to me when I get home but I lose any sense of style and I'm generally cold. Whatever happens to be in front of me and warm gets thrown on my body all at once.


sueded picot-edged sleep set$39.50

We're going home to see the C's family later this month. They are proper East Coast folks, not psuedo-homeless folk like myself. I think a decent set of lounge wear is in order. These are pretty cute and not too pricey.



dotted flannel set Gap $39.50

I totally gave myself a Movie Depression

This

plus this
has put me into a movie depression.

I never watch movies, I especially don't watch two back to back. I was so excited to curl up on the bed last night to totally indulge in doing NOTHING before returning to work today.

It was like a train wreck I couldn't stop watching. Two of the saddest lives ever. Ok, maybe there are sadder lives but I should have just turned off the first movie [And Then She Found Me] all together when the opening scene involved her mom hounding her to have a baby because she was 39.5. oh lordie. Why do I do this to myself?

Independently? Thumbs up on The Savages, Thumbs down on the other [and not just because of the subject matter]

What a difference a little lighting can make

Ok, granted there was a wee bit of retouching done on the Details Cover but here is your proof what good lighting can do for you.

Would you like the hard lighting coming from the top right? or the soft fuzzy light from the front?



Soft fuzzy lighting from the front please. And final editing rights over my image while I'm at it. see it all over at Perez

Too Much of a Good Thing

A couple of people have told me over the last couple of weeks that I look like I've lost weight. Although I appreciate the compliment I weigh the exact same I have for the past 5 years or so. But this morning I was feeling pretty spiffy and thought you know...things do look a little different. I say that and also should mention that this is about the time of the month that I normally want to check myself into a lap-band hospital because the rolls that appear overnight during this time threaten to suffocate me in my sleep.

What could it be? I thought on my car ride into work this morning. I barely exercise anymore. I'm lucky if I get to one yoga class a week. Maybe it's my 1/2 rule that I've been enforcing on myself [only eat half of whatever you are served or want that is bad for you or yummy- essentially everything]. It's probably the 1/2 rule I decided. I've been doing good with that lately. Especially with meals out which are horribly large these days.

And then it dons on me... IT'S THE GREEN TEA. Back in August when I had the What If situation happen I read that 3 cups of green tea lowers your chances of cancer by 30%. I decided that 3 cups of green tea I could do. I didn't give up my coffee in the AM but incorporated the green tea in throughout the day. It started out slow with one a day, then I managed to do a second in the afternoon and then a 3rd I wedged in later in the evening. I'm not a big tea person but I found a couple of them that I like. Most notably the blueberry and orange infused versions that are bottled at Trader Joe's. In the last 3 weeks or so I've been kinda crazed about it really. The tea was spilling over into my weekends [the 3 cup thing I was doing at work]. After I found the bottled stuff it was all I could do not to drink the whole liter or whatever it is at one sitting. I don't even need sweetener anymore.

So on my car ride to the office today I thought well if 3 cups did this ...what would happen with 4? I could be the size 6 I always dreamed of without going to the gym! I could be svelte for once in my life! I could have the body I always dreamed of...and this is where the too much of a good thing, is well, too much.

I drank my 4th cup of tea at 4:30 this afternoon at at 5:15 I felt like I was going to hurl all over my office. You know that feeling when you have too much coffee? yah that. I think it was too much. I had to come home and lay down for an hour and then eat the second piece of toast so that it would soak it all up.

moderation. When will I learn moderation?

Yogi Tea isn't what made me ill today, but don't you love their packaging?

I almost forgot to tell you about this:

The most super of all super sales over at Barneys.com. Most notably in their shoe department. If you have a sugar daddy or aren't terrified you'll lose your job anytime soon, may I suggest? the Prada black riding boots that are now $750 originally $1250. Or perhaps a little Louboutin to get you through $380 originally $635

Meanwhile, I still haven't bought a pair of boots for myself this year. ugh.

A Turkey Story

I have hosted a "Orphan Thanksgiving" or versions of it for nearly 10+ years. I discovered in my days post-my-divorce that there were many people in my circle[s] like me: single, not able to travel home for the holidays, and not knowing what to do with themselves. The first of these gatherings, I was reminded last week, happened at my friend Paula's house.

I'm not sure how I forgot about this particular holiday, it is hilarious and has made me laugh for days after she reminded me. I probably selectively forgot because it was such a comedy of errors at the time. There were 5 of us that year displaced. 3 women, 2 men. I was the only person who had ever cooked a turkey and knew what to do so I volunteered to be the Bird Girl that year and nearly every year since, when I have hosted.



I should describe Paula's apartment so that you can get a good image. She had a beautiful one bedroom with a great front room, and a tiny-ish kitchen complete with a swell vintage oven that at first glance looked large but you soon discover that the actual oven-portion on a vintage oven is quite small. Essentially, the space that is the normal contemporary oven is cut in half, one half for storage the other for cooking. I'm sure it made sense in the 40's or 50's, today, not so much.

We devised a plan, us three girls. We divied up the cooking, we schemed fab recipes, we shopped and we gathered that day in her front room and little kitchen [sometimes all five of us at once] and soon discovered the one thing none of us had thought about till then, that Paula only had about 3 pans. That's all a single girl needs when you don't cook much. When you're cooking Thanksgiving it's another story. We felt like we could work around it though and began our cutting, mashing and prepping. The turkey was in and taking up all but 5 square inches of the oven space. Somehow we did manage to rotate a casserole dish or two in there I think below it, on the floor of the oven. All the burners were going at once, all three of us playing twister for 4+ hours and waiting patiently for each other to finish with one pot so we could start the next part of whatever we were doing. We washed and rewashed those pots about 10 time each it seems. Meanwhile we used, and I'm not lying, every. single. cooking. instrument. and dish. she. owned. They were stacked a foot high in her also lovely but smallish sink.




The boys would come in to check on us once in a while, some what suspiciously, as they didn't think we knew what we were doing! and go back out to the front room to watch football. At some point in the afternoon it all magically came together. The turkey was Martha Stewart perfect, The stuffing amazing, The salad was 4 stars, the mashed potatoes? Brilliant, The cranberry freshly prepared [no cans!] All of it was working out PERFECTLY.

We asked one of the boys to come in and handle the turkey. Since we were perpetuating the stereotype girls in the kitchen /boys watching sports we might as well do it right. Joel joined us in the kitchen and we managed to get the bird out onto her cafe size table. And then like a slow motion Brady Bunch Episode, somewhere in the time it sat on the table, to the time when Joel started to carve, things went wrong, very wrong. The turkey ended up squirting, out from the disposable roaster onto the floor and DID A FULL BASEBALL SLIDE ACROSS THE FLOOR, COMPLETE WITH A HALF SPIN TO A STOP.



I think all of us stood there in silence for a second not knowing what to do, watching our browned little lump-of-love go down in a blaze of glory. I think all of us screamed in unison "FIVE SECOND RULE!!!!" "PICK IT UP!!!!" I'm sure I was one of the loudest since it was one of my main contributions to the day's events.

We did a little wipe-a-roonie- just to make sure and served it up anyway. We all sat around the coffee table with our plates of goodness and were silent as we ate up our days work. Finally one of us spoke, the second of the men and he said "I never thought I would ever say this, but this is better than my mom's Thanksgiving dinner" All of us agreed it was one of the tastiest meals we had ever had and we laughed about the pots and pans stacked to the ceiling and the turkey slide.

Ever since, the funniest thanksgivings have been with people that are friends and acquaintances here in Southern California. Not that there isn't fun things that happen with real family, because there are, but the wackiest, weirdest things happen when people, sometimes that you know well, or someone has brought along to share the "orphan" gathering for this one day, come together to make a psuedo-family. It just goes to show you that you can create your family wherever you happen to be, with or without your biological "peoples". Happy Turkey Day.


paper turkey via this person
Turkey leg Plushy via this person
Sock Turkey via This Person

Right Now...

• It's a beautiful fall day
• I'm prepping for my annual "orphan Thanksgiving" with displaced So. Cal friends
• I finished all my chores!
• I am excited about my new book: David Sedaris' When you are engulfed in Flames
• I haven't taken a shower yet and it's 4pm
• I am so grateful for a little break in my freelance work. So this is what a real weekend is like!
• I'm getting ready for a Sunday "Girl Day" - facial, hair conditioning treatment, mani while reading fashion mags and watching some crappy tv show all up on my big ol' bed!

I forgot I was at Banana

I'm normally a black bag sort of girl. Really, I'm a black everything sort of girl but in the past year I've gotten a little crazy and well added some color and THOUGHT about adding more. whoo nelly.

I ventured into my neighborhood Banana Republic last week after many years of being just SAD about the state of their merchandise. I can tell you it's better now. In fact, I saw this bag and really forgot I was in BR. The color and shape are so rich I had a little moment about the whole thing.

I have to point out that it's shape looks so much like this woman's work, that I wonder if they'll have a lawsuit on their hands at somepoint but meanwhile go and be fabulous for less.

Robson Handbag available in three sizes $240-$160

For The Art Damaged Person In Your Life

If you have a fussy, picky, art-damaged person in your life that you never know what to buy for the holidays, this might be your ticket. I gotta say, this person needs to probably be a hipster surfer dude because ahhh well, they're cool but not for someone say like me. A picky, wannabe fashionista, art-damaged person.

If you're not in the creative field I'll explain briefly. Pantone is a color matching system nearly everyone that deals with some sort of color whether it be on a computer or in interior design works with. They produce these very precise, very expensive books which use to have handy pull out chips [but now I'm dating myself]. Most any corporation you know of will have a style guide that has a Pantone # to reference when printing their logo [Think FedEx]. So back to this story. Seavees teamed up with Pantone to make sneakers in a handful of the original colors that debuted in the first Pantone book in 1963. You can read the scoop from the brief below.



SeaVees, Purveyors of California Casual, has announced an exclusive collaboration with Pantone, the world-renowned authority on color. True to their inspiration, each SeaVees style is named to honor an influential date in 1960's California-cool history. With the creation of the 09/63, SeaVees celebrates the founding of Pantone, and the release of the first PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM in September 1963. For the first time in their 45 year history, Pantone has allowed an external design team into their hallowed archives. SeaVees has selected seven vintage colors from the original Pantone color guide. The palette, chosen from the only authentic guide known to exist, epitomizes the cool, casual style of California in 1963. The series production has been restricted to 1,963 pairs.

If you're interested they are $140 and apparently only available by special invitation. Oops, well here is the passwords if you need them!

Login: pantone
Password: seavees0963

Totally yummy jewels - super sale

A good friend of mine is a fabulous jewelry designer. She designs mostly for a big named catalog that you would recognize if I mentioned, but I know she's had some issues about throwing that name around so I won't. And in case you like a name drop as much as I do, Sandra Bullock has worn some of her work. I wanted to tell you she's having a crazy blow out sale right now on some awesome stuff. You should totally check it out because when they're gone...they're gone.


I put one of these on a couple weeks ago and didn't want to take it off [I did in fact wear it the rest of the night]. It's kind of like the anti-engagement ring. It's this chunky, fun, hunk of love that makes you feel like a 5 carat diva even if you're not. Available in multiple sizes and can be worn stackable. $45 I say go for the big one!


azure. apatite gem cascade earrings $32 When you want just a little bit of girly with your jeans and tee.



Oh Snap silver pendant. I love the ball chain, just gives it a little edge. $22

Prices start at $9 and with most being 14-32$ and up. A little something for everyone. Sparkle on.

Smart Ads

My coworker sent me these ads today. They are for a store called Olio United in the Portland, Or area that his niece ownes. "Everything has a story - fair trade - sustainable - clothing - housewares and art that can change the world" is their motto.

Lovely, don't you think?



I love a great ad, I also love it when they break some rules getting there. It appears they are putting them up around the city in a "handbill/guerrilla marketing" campaign. The devil in me is totally excited about that part.



You can see the full campaign here which is done by Aaron James.

Grey Gardens

Have you ever seen Grey Gardens the movie? I saw it for the first time a couple of years ago after a friend raved on and on about the movie and it's eccentric personalities Big Edie and Little Edie. The mother - daughter team received some press after the Board of Health was called in to clean up their East Hampton Mansion that had fallen into disrepair and was full of cats, raccoons and other undesirable visitors. You might wonder what would generate press about something of this nature, it was because they were relatives of Jackie O's.

What began as a film about Lee Radziwil, took a quick turn to the Beales when Edie asked for Lee's help and the film crew followed. You can see the film maker here as he revisits the house 30 years later. It includes clips of the documentary that will let you glimpse the amazing film, the crazy outfits that Little Edie made famous, and some information about their ice cream habit which apparently was $150 a month.

Last reported, Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore were set to star in the movie based around the documentary, recent google searches don't turn up a release date but do indicate that possibly HBO has bought out the project. I'm not sure if that means it will go to HBO channel or they are funding the big picture release. Either way it should be amazing.

Available on Netflix A fantastic rental.

New In the Studio -Gabriela & Robert

Gabriela & Robert are hosting a family holiday brunch in early December. They have a variation of religious beliefs in the family so they decided to stick with a theme and a design that spoke more to their organic, simple type of esthethic over traditional holiday colors.



The project revolved around the bark paper that the invite was mounted on. The two of them had found it some time back and wanted to use it for this invite. Gabriela also asked for this plant, which I can't think of the name of right now. We opted to keep everything brown after playing around with some greens. She'll be incorporating that into her flowers, which will be amazing since she is a spectacular florist and her sweetheart is in the business of importing all the lovely petals we see around LA.

digitally produced.
invite, map card, and matching return label