heart these dresses

Lena Corwin posted the first one by Mocuin who I love for their prints and the second is a jacket/dress Jon saw made of 100% recycled polyester by Nau. 

Sculpture Today

Just got book called Sculpture Today giving us a great overview of sculptural art of the last 30 years. Saw it at Hennessy+Ingalls (don't see it on their website, but they do sell it in store) and remembered Carlee telling me last year that she would be in it. It's huge. The paper cut out cover art showing 2-d to 3-d is clever and its simplicity is pretty stunning. Have to love white on white. Some of my favorites... Carlee's #7100-Goat, Wim Delvoye' s Cloaca poop machine, and Olafur Eliasson's Weather Project which we got to experience in person at the Tate Modern.

chopsticks & the forest

"Environmentalists in China have a message to Olympic-goers in Beijing: Bring your own chopsticks!" This is how All Things Considered started this segment yesterday afternoon. I love it, what's it all about!? Apparently, disposable wooden chopsticks are dramatically contributing to China's deforestation. According the Greenpeace, the nation uses 160,000 pairs of chopsticks a day. This is equal to about 100 acres of forest being deforested each day! To enforce reusable chopsticks, the government is now taxing disposable chopsticks in an effort to discourage people from using them, most significantly the big chain restaurants. 

Last weekend, a friend had a post-Chinese New Year pot luck. Signed up to bring a good salad in order to balance out the greasy chinese food and at the last minute remembered my bright red set plastic chopsticks.

Also forgot to post last month that China has also banned plastic bags because it's depleting their petroleum reserve. I have to say, China is pretty rockin' in this arena.

Tara Donovan

Anthropologie used vertical straws stuck together in their jewelry display. Saw it today, but I think they've had it there for a while. Reason why I am posting is because a few weeks ago I bumped into these old photos from '05 I snuck at the Tara Donovan exhibit at Ace Gallery in LA. Interesting when you know where inspiration could've come from. 

This is a wall of horizontally stacked straws.

All those white circles - styrofoam cups! Notice the scale. Two years later, I still remember how amazed we were.

tropical leaf platter

Happy Mundane's post on blue platters reminded me of of this brand new vintage blue tropical leaf platter I purchased from Refab Clinic. I love it, it's fabulous. It was one of the things saved as we sorted through our storage this weekend promising to learn to make an appetizer with a dip for the next time friends come over.

Deepak Chopra and a perfect colorway

I've been reading The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by physician and philosopher Deepak Chopra. I had heard of Deepak Chopra before, but only got to understand him better after seeing an Iconoclasts episode he did with comedian Mike Myers. He has such a simple and concise, but lush way of talking about our existence, science, and spirituality. One of his practices is to "take time each day to commune with nature and witness the intelligence within every living thing." After all nature is perfect, all around us and there to teach us. I bought these flowers at farmers market this weekend. With that little bit of yellow in the middle, it's a perfect colorway.

Domino Magazine, March '08

Got my newest issue of Domimo last week with 150 ways to go green. I love every issue, but this one was especially timely because of my latest farmer's market obsession and an article by Cynthia Kling who writes about eating locally for two weeks. Some tips for the market: walk the the whole market before spending because yes, it is pricey and you want to buy the right things, get there early for the best selection, just because it's local does not mean it's always good, and even beef and poultry are seasonal. Other interesting notes, "locavore" according to the Oxford American Dictionary means eating only local grown ingredients and was 2007's word of the year (btw, italian olive oil and columbian coffee are not local, but there is a "Marco Polo Exemption" that states "if an item has been traded for centuries, you can buy it at a locally owned vendor to support your community") and finally, eating locally (and probably more veggies) for her made her poop better - agreed!  

new logo type

I've been working on a new logo type for supercozy. I love deco fonts so I took one with nice happy curves and bonded them together like BFF's. Now, I have to figure out how to switch out the top banner, ?.

orange table lamp

A 1958 orange crackle table lamp I purchased last weekend in Palm Springs to brighten up the corner of my desk. I was once very obsessed with the color orange. During the few years I lived in Echo Park, I lived in an amazing studio apartment above a eccentric lady named Maxine and painted the widest wall of the space this same orange.

heart cake

What looks like chocolate cake, but seemed to be a chocolate cake madeline combo because of the nutty texture. Amazing and from Europane Bakery.

Andreas Canyon Trail

There are some beautiful trails in the Palm Springs desert. We did this really easy one mile loop called the Andreas Canyon Trail. We took our time walking and found ourselves in awe of the rock formations, the random group of palm trees growing next to the rocks and the river running through it. There was snow in the mountains, probably melting, while we were there which explains the the water oasis in middle of the desert.Huge rocks and huge palms.

I love it when branches form these little arches, very Hansel and Gretel. This is very nerdy, but I can see an illustration of the left image for a cover of a book. The second half of the hike higher in elevation so you had a pretty grand view of the mountains around you.

The loop takes you around this canyon and group of palms. There are more hikes in this area called Indian Canyon which is only 10 minutes from downtown. We hope to check them out next time.

Horizon Hotel

This weekend's perfect weather equaled two perfect days in Palm Springs. Part 1, our hotel, the Horizon Hotel. 

The first time we saw this hotel, was during an architectural tour we took in 2003. It had not yet been remodeled, so you could still get a glimpse of an old school glamour when the Rat Pack and crew would get away.

Bungalows center around a large lap pool. There are only 22 rooms so it's quiet and you quickly begin to recognize your neighbors.

We had a king room... black and white minimalist, relaxing, private, calm and sophisticated. AC was a little noisy because it was right next you. Solid blinds open to  sheer blinds, you had privacy, but with light and a view of the pool. Super cozy bed.

Sitting area with the pool in view and bathroom with hotel's signature dual indoor and outdoor shower. This was a first!

This was the view from our room and the sparkling pool. I get why people want pools and jacuzzis. I get it now. Everything outdoors was also black and white.

Loved the circular patios. I noticed this was the only room with a chimney. Three long bungalows all connected at one end with doors inside if you chose to share all three with family or friends. You can see two here.

Our front door and steps from our patio to the pool.

We upgraded to a room with a small kitchen so we could snack and lunch at our leisure. Brought with us fresh lettuce, tomatoes, and bread from Thursday's farmer's market. Then bought deli meat and potato salad from Sherman's in downtown Palm Springs. The wine was delicious and called "L". 

I quite liked this nighttime shot.

Composting Bin Sale

I will be checking out the Composting Bin Sale at Griffith Park Composting Education Facility tomorrow. They sell bins every 2nd Friday of the month. Up till now, I've been throwing all my green scraps in a small container by my sink and then to the green bin. But with all the veggies I've been getting from the farmers market, I really should be composting. I'm a little bit nervous to have "worm pets" because I've never been a pet person, but this book is helping.

lovely font

having fun with this font today strangely called riot squad. sweet font for this upcoming valentines day.

brass and plants

Loving my new brass focal point above the fireplace. It's a huge platter I found in my parents' garage. Room feels so much better now. There is hierarchy, whew. Also recently inspired by seeing a friend's beautiful fig tree and added some baby succulents on the mantel. Plants really make a space feel more cozy. New (chinese) year, new space...

winter flowers

Flowers from Trader Joes. I love how the daisies(?) petals curl into little flutes. The freesia just have such a sweet refreshing fragrance.

zero waste dinner

Had friends over for some good grub last night. I dug out all my plates, napkins and utensils for a zero waste night. Asking everyone to stack their dirty plates and place their dirty utensils in a small bowl full of soapy water made clean up super easy.