I wish this would be used on me

Chris and I are planning on tying the knot sometime after his graduation from P.A school which is next August. I keep telling him "you know you can totally ask me NOW and I won't expect to get married till AFTER you're done" he gives me a blank sort of stare like 'woman don't you know I can't think of more than one thing at a time?'.... yes,I know. A girl can try right?



but how rad would this be? a fancy coffee AND a marriage proposal?

see all the cute coffee stencils here

get ready

high waisted pants and men's shoes are back. LOVE
I think I'm going to pull my loafers out RIGHT NOW and wear them to the grocery!



Also, I'm having short hair thoughts again and these photos don't help the situation...

photos from The Sartoralist in London and Milan for fashion week[s]. And you know those Italians, they've got a leg up on us for style

His Holiness is exactly 3 blocks from my house

I can't swear to it but when he's been in town previously His Holiness the Dalai Lama has stayed at a monastery that is oh three blocks from my house.



I'm not Buddhist, I'm not anything really, but I believe in his teachings of love and I'm kinda jazzed he's so close to me. I stopped by tonight to see if there was a morning meditation open to the public [in hopes of seeing him] but there's not. I am already booked during the times he's speaking tomorrow and Saturday which I'm very sad about.

So, I'm pondering a 5am stalking of the small building down the street. I don't know what time they rise for the days meditation It's probably 3:30 but 5 sounded like a good compromise to me. Even if I sat outside maybe a chant would come through the walls.

What will really happen at 5am? My alarm will go off, I'll turn it off, realize it's still dark and go back to sleep. or maybe...

I love me some wing tips

I love man-ish shoes always have. It's a problem though when you have a size 10 foot because, they literally could be mens shoes at that size. I once had a pair of wing tips in the back of my friends car and when we picked up another girl along the way she said "what guy have you had in your car?" ummm none, they're mine.

the perfect marry of girl and boy
available at Barneys $540

More Etsy Love

My friend Khobe who's having the super fun jewelry classes I mentioned here, just put up an Etsy site for all of those who don't live in the area.



super cuteness

Big Etsy Love

If I wasn't technically unemployed at the moment I would be all over this chair. Dude...$425

Charlie the dog commercial

I can't find a good version of this tv ad on You Tube so you'll have to click here to watch the 15 second spot that is SO CUTE

Hey check it out...my favorite paper lamp is in the middle of the room to boot.

old artwork

Last year when I was on my shoe illustration kick I did this lovely sandal but never printed it [I thought my obsession was getting the best of me] I was just admiring my handy work stuck to my bulletin board and thought you might like a nice look at a shoe this fine Monday.

bury me in this

Isaac Mizrahi via style.com. Please note the star earrings and the pink tulle fluff poking out.

De.Lish

CLEAR BALLS

Just thought I would get your attention with that headline.

Michael Kors Spring 2010 Nailed it
That Necklace? MUST. HAVE. LARGE. CLEAR. BALLS. NECKLACE.

Hello Target? Are you listening?

A "T & a J"

NYC fashion week is in full swing. Two favs of mine had shows yesterday [posted on Style.com] should you want to see all the shows the day after.

Barbara Tfank and J. Mendel


Barbara is the queen of the 50's-60's housewife. LOVE

perfect navy dress. cute red flat would be nice too.


Cute print and I hate prints normally. This one is just subtle enough.


And this darling, is nothing I would ever wear but she needs a cocktail and a ciggy in her hand if you ask me.

J. Mendel

this little shirred fur. I DIE [and I might be over that saying too]


This was my fav though the spilling of the fluff down the front? so pretty



The white. I think the fluff needs to come over the shoulder or something but it's really pretty.

Etsy Love

you could be a wiener calendar from YeeHaw [who is beyond awesome I might add]
$35



Joy no. 5 - great sentiment $10


a selfless horrible plug for myself $5


jewelry made from old type in love, except maybe the price $111

Today's obsession

I'm obsessing again. About that certain store front that I'm not talking about. This would go perfectly inside over the table that I meet with my clients. Dripping with all of my own work and funny sayings.



The Zettel'z 5 Chandelier $1220

special thanks to Gregory my former cohort over at AT for helping me find the link to it.

#746

Some how this is my 746th posting. I don't know how this happened. I don't know why I started this blog but to say that I was doing a lot of research at the time four years ago and watching a lot of Sex and the City. I can do that I thought. Why I thought this is a mystery to me. I have never been a writer or a good speller or anyone who didn't cheat her way through English Comp. Don't ask me how I did that either, I'm not so sure myself. But none of it never made sense to me. Where to put a comma? Where to put a semicolon? I dunno lets just put some ... in and people will get the point.



You may have noticed that I added the "linked in" blog-dealio a couple weeks ago. I did it to challenge my non-programming self. My hands get sweaty just thinking of adding code into this blog. I hate it. Like I hate numbers. Which by the way I had to add on my fingers this morning in bed and Chris said to me "did you just add on your fingers?" why yes, didn't you know that about me? I can't add unless on my fingers? and if I feel too shy about adding on my fingers I tap on my paper to make it look like a dice. REALLY I'm not kidding here. The number 5 in my head looks like the 5 on a dice. I. CAN.ONLY. THINK. IN. PICTURES.

Where was I... who knows. Writing for 4 years, here doing I don't know what. A journal some days, a design blog the next, it never makes sense to me either really. But the little linked in thing has given me a chance to revisit some of my posts with all the grammar issues +. It's been kinda neat for me. I know that no one else probably uses it but this blog has never been about anyone else [I think I have about 50 readers half being my family]. It's been my venture into living out loud. I didn't do that very well until a few years ago. It took me 36 or 37 years to get set in my shoes.

So happy #746 maybe there will be 700 more or maybe one day I'll just live really out loud and won't need to say it here.

and you can dance to it

I heard/saw this woman Little Jackie on a music show. Catchy little tune. I've heard it before – came out last year. I give it a Bandstand thumbs up you can totally dance to it.

Little Jackie
"Stoop"

me and my big ideas

I'm having crazy ideas again. I do this to myself on a regular basis. Most of the time they go away after a while, those hair brained ideas – you know... you have them too right?

This idea keeps haunting me. I wake up thinking about it. I'm decorating in my head 5 times a day. I'm afraid to say it out loud [this idea] but I thought I would just show you a picture of what it would look like if I did it. The name and colors have changed 3 or 4 times since I started my obsession but essentially it looks like this:



This space is a block away from me, it's for rent [I think the sign is down now but it was just taped] I want it to be an office space, a studio space, a workshop space, a I don't have to meet my clients at Peet's Coffee anymore space.

I want the inside of it to look like her house:





I'm not sayin' I'm just sayin'
that maybe if I just put it out there it will magically happen like the rest of my life has unfolded these past few months. Maybe I'll tire of the idea and it will just go away. Either way...can it just leave my head for a little while? I need to get some shite done.

The next BIG thing?....customized cookies

So I've called cupcakes, Ice cream trucks, gourmet food in trucks/roach coaches, next up? the customized cookie. Now, if we can just get the customized cookie into the roach coach mixed with the ice cream to make ice cream sandwiches...Now That my friends is a sound business plan if you ask me.



Mix-ins have been a staple in many ice cream shops for years already, allowing customers near infinite possibilities in designing their own creamy confection. Now bringing comparable potential to the world of cookies is Toronto's Sweet Flour Bake Shop, which lets patrons design their own baked treats and eat them fresh from the oven just two minutes later.

More than 15,000 possible combinations face Sweet Flour customers, who begin by choosing the cookie dough base they'd like: original, peanut butter or oatmeal. From there they can choose from among more than 20 mix-ins, including chocolate chunks, dried blueberries and toffee pieces. Little patience is required after that, for Sweet Flour's baking process requires only two minutes before the customised goodies are ready to devour. Cookies are CDN 2.50 each, or CDN 19 by the dozen. Also available at Sweet Flour are customised muffin tops, cookie sandwiches and a signature homemade granola with mix-ins and fresh fruit.

via Springwise

A woman after my own thighs errr....heart I mean.

I think I'd like to read this


Hungry: A Young Model's Story of Appetite, Ambition and the Ultimate Embrace of Curves
by Crystal Renn


photo and further story of I how I learned about it is here
via Fashionista

Etsy Love

Since I'm working with a couple of brides right now I thought I would log onto Etsy as one of them tonight to see what's out there in the world to choose from. I gotta say there is a lot, and a lot of crap too. Here are a couple of cuties though that I would dig should I ever [again]


have you heard of the Steam Punk movement? it's a whole "thing/subculture" these cuff links are super cool and groovie for your guy even if you're not decked head to toe. $95

cake toppers $35 Bride and Groom can be specified color and details [or groom and groom]


Belle Etoile Necklace by Mercury Jane$92 not completely sold on this but it's pretty cute

set of three hankies $18
This would be a necessity for Chris and I. He carries a hankie all the time for his allergies and I would need one to cry into.

New In the studio - Gabriela & Robert's engagement

Florist, Gabriela, of Vida Flora is getting married. Can you imagine the fantastic flowers she'll have at her own wedding? Gardenias are going to be the theme.

This engagement invite is flat printed with a simple line drawing but I'm going to revise the illustration to a very detailed cross hatch style to letterpress. It should be knock-your-socks off fantastic.

[click to enlarge]

Dream Worthy

via> net a porter's online magazine

Wow

Can you believe these are cookies? I think I'm speechless especially about the one with flowers. You can find them here on Etsy of all places how cool is that? SweetAmbs







via>Bits of Beauty

Some music to go with your cookie treat

I'm listening to the radio right now and one of my favorites just came on do you know Astor Piazzolla? The yummiest merge of Tango and French music ever.



I took tango lessons a number of years ago. It was so much fun. It was even more fun to dance with the instructor when he was demo-ing something. When a man leads you well in dancing it makes you feel like a million bucks. Did you know that Tango's rule of thumb is that it's the man's job to make you look better than him? If he can lead you there that is and you're not trying to lead him. It is really a lesson in letting go.

It's also considered a compliment [in a milonga=place to dance tango] if an older gentleman asks you to dance. It means he's seen you and your expertise is on par with his. It's proper not to talk while dancing as well. You are not there to pick up on the person, you are only there to dance it is reverence to the dance I was told. I love those weird little social rules.

One day I hope to get back to lessons. When I stopped dating the Peruvian years ago, I lost my willing dance partner. American men are afraid of it I think. Maybe if I ask Chris to do it one year for my birthday he'll buckle ;)

Some thoughts, perhaps a good one

You may or may not know if you don't live in Los Angeles but damned near the whole city that is not paved is on fire at the moment. I block these things out normally. Half the time I don't even know where the places are they're talking about and I live here. Or the things are too horrible to ponder at all. I am effected by my CNN homepage more than I care to admit. During the giant economic crash I had to change it due to panic attacks. Anyway, you get the picture.

So, the fire...over the weekend I didn't watch any news at all. I heard there was a brush fire and then I wake up Monday to conversations that an area called Runyon Canyon was on fire. Runyon is this hill and for lack of a better description it's in the heart of LA. Hipsters and movie stars climb it, people run their dogs, trainers kick their clients ass'. I started to pay attention. And then the news came about the two fire fighters who had perished. This is why I'm really telling this story.



I belong to one of those 'Friend' sites -you know what I'm talking about. I like it alot, keep in contact with friends, family and some distant friends that I don't see or talk to but well, you add them anyway. One of these women was a good friend of mine in high school, who I came to find out earlier this year that she lost her sweetheart, who was a firefighter, in a freak accident about a year ago.



I distinctly remember watching the evening news that night and seeing that report and thinking 'how sad'. My thoughts stopped there because well, I just can't engage otherwise I would never stop crying. So I learn of this sad story and send her my regards. Yesterday she posted something about sending prayers to those fallen men who passed this week and knowing her story I know how heart breaking it must be to relive. And for all of the families who have men and women out there working hearing that on the news, and not knowing... must be horrible.



As someone who has a brother in law enforcement, there are those thoughts that go through your mind about what if. What if someone goes wacko, what if a bullet misses the protective vest, what if...

A year or so ago I was at work and opened my browser like I do a million times a day and the CNN headline said something like 'Northern California Officer Shot Dead In Ambush' and for the three longest seconds of my life, my heart stopped and my mind went to all sorts of places until I could scan the article for the city. It happened to be Oakland and I took a breathe but then started in again with thoughts "was he on training in Oakland?" "did he pick up a shift for some other department for extra cash?"

What. If.

My brother is Superman. Literally. 6'3", a giant wall of a man. With all of his gear on he looks like an NFL Lineman and one bad-ass cop. He is a Sergeant, he has trained with the SWAT team, sniper training, Something about repelling out of a helicopter I think I heard at one point, he's a specialist and trainer in hand to hand combat. He just plain could kick the living crap out of you if he wanted. He has rescued people off of bridges who were going to jump, he has gone in to homes to find horrible, unspeakable things. He is the man who can and will protect you should you need it. Yet, even Superman has his criptonite. I pray often that he never meets up with his.

So, this is what I've been thinking about the last 48 hrs or so. If you've ignored those stories on the news like I do. If you might think a good thought for those families who have men and women out saving our city I think it would be good. And a special thought to the families who lost their Supermen this week to criptonite would be even better.

images via L.A. Now a blog for the LA Times