Mindless Monday

Quick update here to account for the quietness. We've had a few medical emergencies and that has been my primary focus. I promise to get back to the creative things that excite me. In the meantime, thank you for all the support and love you have shown. We hope to get back to "normal" real soon.

Grandma's

If we ever needed a better excuse to put our own life on hold, be it blogging, working, spending time with friends, being in your own home, there is no better excuse then your 95 year old grandmother. I count myself blessed to still have this lovely woman in my life. She is the fourth of five children and the only living one. She's outlived her husband and two of her children. She's born and raised in New Mexico and has a long-term memory that amazes me.

She's lived in her house for 50 years and this year we've spent the greater part of the Spring and Summer in NM making the move from her house into my moms. This has been no easy task. Her property and house were full to the rim with stuff, a lifetime of memories and cherished things. Making these changes so late in your life is no fun, and she was a good sport even if we did verbally spar about crazy things, she LOVES her clothes, and she has LOTS of them.

She's had two hip surgeries in one year and a fractured back, she doesn't hear well, even with the hearing aids, but she moves faster then most of us ever will. She still thinks she is 20. She loves music and singing, anytime she hears a tune she starts doing a little jig with her walker as a partner. She can be stubborn beyond belief and hilarious on the other hand. I used to cry laughing on the phone when I'd call to say hello, she just has tall tales, not all based in reality, but funny none the less.

She told me when we were sitting in a restaurant: "I like to watch the old gals be all prissy," when I told her they were probably watching her watch them, she said "I am watching them to see if I can learn some new tricks." When we passed a Hooters, which I swear she's never been to, she said "I was going to join Hooters, but they talked me out of it." Seriously I could go on and on. She talks to EVERYONE (I might have inherited this part of her). People stop and listen and laugh out loud at the outrageous things she says. She's a real charmer. She's proud of her age and swears that she'll live to 100, and she probably will. She's planning on throwing herself a party when she turns 100 and getting drunk.

At 95 she told me the other day she was bored, she doesn't like to watch TV much and is so used to waiting on people, cooking, gardening, cleaning, doing their laundry and now with some limitations she can't do it all. I asked if she ever had a hobby, she said no, she never had time for such things, she was too busy with a houseful of people. She strongly dislikes be alone and will follow you around everywhere. My mom swears she's stalking her.

She loves boys, men, the male gender, period. She told us when she was growing up farming she was always out in the fields with the boys, she just got comfortable. She'll flirt with the best of them, and they just love her. She'll come to Rob first for just about everything, she only wants him take her for a walk or take her socks off (which he flatly refuses to do, shoot he'd doesn't even like his own feet).

Speaking of farming, she use to can all the food they grew. i'm convince she ate so well, (organic, before it was a fad) that this is why she's lived so long. When she cooked more it was always delicious. She still has a apricot tree in the backyard and this year it produced a small batch of fruit. I talked her into helping me make her apricot jam, which I used to eat by the spoonful. She couldn't remember the recipe, she NEVER wrote any recipe's down, but we tested it a bit and got a good jar out of what you see above.

While in New Mexico this last time I found out the Rail yards were open to the public for a Farmers Market. Mom and I took Grandma down there to see them. She was amazed, she'd never been allowed in these buildings, even though she used to live down the street, the Rail yard were always full of trains and workers. Now they are all abandoned and used for quite a few movies. She lamented that she wished she could have shared this experience with one of her older sisters and younger brother. It was a treat for the three of us, who had never been inside ourselves.

So while it's been quiet in this space, my life has been full of good memories and family duty and a great sense of accomplishment and pride in this lovely lady, who may just out live us all.

Mindless Monday

Longest day of the year was this past weekend, did you know that? Although I just posted about Spring, it's already Summer. SB is busy giving surfing lessons, poor him, has to spend all day at the beach. Whatever!

I'm trying to enjoy Summer as much as possible, though in July we'll be back on the road again to NM to take care of some family business. It's been a challenging year, blogging wise for sure. I'm still trying to enjoy this space, but my time is limited these days in between all the other projects in the pipeline. We are planning a little Sante Fe trip for our Anniversary, but our big trip this year was Belize so no more tropical vacations on the horizon. I'll eventually catch up and share some tidbits from that amazing trip. Enjoy your week.

Mindless Monday Spring

I know I know, we're close to Summer, but I missed Spring for all the traveling I've done in the past few months. On this June Gloom day I present you with Spring and all the beauty in the flowers and fruit. There might be a white peacock and probably an over saturation of Peonies. I am kind of obsessed with them. Enjoy!

&nb… — Painting hanging over the phone in the kitchen.

Mindless Monday

&nb… — Painting hanging over the phone in the kitchen.

Chirp, chirp, chirp. I know it's been extremely quiet here. One must set a few priorities in life, and mine has been helping my 95 year old grandmother and my Mom in the good state of New Mexico. This is a Monday that I can try to access the past few weeks. During my stay here we've uncovered quite a few treasures and lots of stuff that I have no idea what we'll do with. We have had to decide to sell, keep, donate, or toss. No easy task, especially as there are so many memories attached. Oh I forgot the other option, what should we burn. More than once we've thought what a relief it would be if the house completely went up in flames, but we've just looked at the other option, to burn all the old paid bills oh and few pure weird things that just needed to be disposed of quickly. Below are a few of the things we've uncovered.

Biggest lesson learned here is "keep your life simple." Seriously the accumulation of stuff is beyond my comprehension, yet we so easily slip into keeping every sentimental thing. I can't wait to go home and clean out my house even more.

Grandma's china gifted to her on her 25th wedding annivesrary.

Grandma writing a note to my cousin, telling her the story of how she came into possession of the above china.

Just guess which one of these items I am actually keeping.

Grapefruit Gin Martini

Poor me had to taste test Grapefruit Gin Martini's. This little concoction and these gift tags are featured on Tiny Prints blog today. Go check it out.

Mindless Monday

Are you craving Margarita's today? I think many of you are. I tried to make one the other day. I'm not a huge tequila fan these days, but this was a tasty way to use a seasonal ingredient like blood oranges. With that said, Megan from the blog The House Wife In Training Files does it right. Look at her amazing images and recipes here, I found her on Pinterest and had to try this refreshing cocktail. Whatever you are drinking, personally I'm still on my second cup of coffee, enjoy your week!

Mindless Monday

Do you ever wish you were 23 again, only with the knowledge you have now? I wish I had that metabolism and energy, and memory. Seriously I'm losing my memory or maybe I'm just losing my mind. I can't eat the same things, so much food these days makes me feel bad. I don't have the stamina to stay up for long amounts of time and generally I'm just slower on just about everything. Oh the joys of getting older, even if I am relatively young, it kind of sucks.

In a couple of weeks we're off our schedule once again, this time going to New Mexico to help clean out a family house. Seriously, stressing me out. But we'll make the most of it. Which has motivated me at home now.

This space has been sparse as I realized I need to clean out my own apartment, box by box, closet by closet. We accumulate so much stuff, and it feels really great just getting rid of it all. This clean up includes a digital clean up. How many emails do you have, why are we saving them all, what are we worried about losing? I ask myself this every time I see my inbox full or my archive files overflowing. It's Spring cleaning time and I clearing out space to breath. What does your Spring cleaning include.

Hope your week is shaping up to be a fulfilling one. Enjoy!

Photography by Eric Striffler. as seen on Remodilista

ItSweet Color

How often does your color taste change? Mine is going through a major shift.

Almost 19 years ago when we set up our first apartment it was the a bit overwhelming to go from just decorating your bedroom, that you rented or lived at home, to having many more rooms to claim color ownership of. So I erred on the side of neutral.

I'll never forget someone telling me that the colors I picked on my registry were so boring. I was afraid of color, which is ironic, because I loved to paint and play with color, but not for me.

Actually that bled into my clothes too, afraid of color, I mostly wore black, grey and brown. Again, I can think back to the day when I was walking around in bright lime green and hot pink that someone told my mom my clothes were too loud. So black, brown and grey it was.

So a few years ago when I was going to England, I'd decided to figure out a new color palate for me based on the colors of the season. I knew it was time to add color back in my life. I am a firm believer that what you wear and see everyday has a big affect on your moods. Picking colors from the season, was so fashion forward to me. Probably behind really, but who cares. This way I would know that I could find things during that season in that color palate. I eliminated one color from that original palate, only because every time I tried that color on I looked sad. Then one color I added because my eyes really looked happy when I wore that one.

Now I love color, I have few basic items in black, but the rest is all color all the time. I'm gravitating to color more and more. So today is what has inspired me. Below are a few of the Pinterest pins that I love. And now that I pulled them, I can see Pink, Green and Yellow are in them all.

I've recently started adding yellow into my wardrobe, so afraid of that color on me. But I bought some yellow and grey shoes so I knew I had to get over it.

And then I find that color bleeds into my food, I've been buying foods at the markets purely because they are colorful, then I need to figure out what to do with them. What fun!

Michelle Armas painting as seen on Oncewed.com

Has art inspired you? I've been inspired by a few pieces of stationary to create great recipes and write them down on, or send my food with little splashes of color on the packaging. Really anything can inspire you.

I am loving the pops of color in a room. I can't wait to show the dramatic change in my bedroom, from dark and cozy to bright, light and airy.

This makes me incredibly hungry for something PINK.

Natasha Poly by Patrick Demarchelier for Vogue China January 2014 — Natasha Poly by Patrick Demarchelier for Vogue China January 2014

I'm in the process of spray painting just about anything I can get my hands on. I love the splashes of muted color on these pots. What colors are you gravitating towards?

Mindless Monday

I have to say my brain has been on serious vacation mode. I am dreaming of being out in the Barrier Reef, isn't is just so peaceful looking? I'm slowly trying to get myself back into a routine. I fear this won't happen till September. Still lots going on. May is shaping up to be a roller coaster, but I'll find a way to manage. I've been testing recipes, finalizing our bedroom makeover, fixing our new pimped out dresser and clearing the DVR of about 2 months worth of shows. I hardly watch live TV anymore. Today I am in cleaning mode, which includes the physical cleaning of the apartment and my email inbox. I am so wishing I had joined this program 4 0 bags in 40 days . Seriously how is it we accumulate so much stuff that quickly. But we do. So time to shred, bag, and get rid of it. So I start my own little challenge at my apartment before I start this project with my grandmother's house. Yep that's coming in May. Stay tuned for more road trip madness. Eventually I'll get my Belize post up. Have a great week all.

Perfect Party Bar Setup

While I was traveling through Belize I guest posted on The Hip Soiree about how to set up the perfect party bar. I'm currently trying to figure out how to replicate this at home, much more scaled down, of course. This party gave me a chance to figure this out. Take a look at the post here. I loved this project and Lizzie's blog is fantastic.

Cookbooks

Did I ever tell you I have a nice collection of signed cookbooks. My friends know because they helped me move boxes of them when we got our floors redone. I don't have too many, but a few apparently very heavy ones.

My love for cooking and cookbooks happened nearly 19 years ago. My boss was a foodie. He had quite a collection of cookbooks. I was newly married, and really didn't know how to cook much. Pasta was my go to meal. I asked his advice on what cookbooks I should invest in. I'd joined a cookbook club. Then, started the book signings. He'd send me to get a cookbook signed by Julia Child or some other great chef, and would kindly purchase one for me. Thus my love for the cookbook and meeting the author started.

My friend Bekah and I have stood in line more then once to meet Ina Garten and get a few signed cookbooks from her, plus a sampling of recipes from the cookbook. We love these moments.

All of a sudden there are three cookbooks and great stories on sale. Here's what I'm looking forward to reading and cooking from.

First up is David Lebovitz, My Paris Kitchen. If you haven't check out his blog your missing something. Seriously his first book My Sweet Life, made me laugh out loud. His tweets are even hilarious. This book released today. Go get it now at Amazon, I sure will be.

Next up is Molly Wizenberg's book about her restaurant, Delancey that she opened up with her husband. She is also hilarious, have you ever heard her on the podcast Spilled Milk? I literally laugh out loud listening while sitting in the endless traffic on L.A. freeways, and let me tell laughing in that mess is super hard to do.

Zoe Nathan, Josh Loeb - Huckleberry: Stories, Secrets and Recipes from our Kitchen

Last up is one I've been anticipating. Huckleberry: Stories, Secrets and Recipes From Our Kitchen. I literally live 4 blocks from Huckleberry's in Santa Monica. I frequently walk there for a quick lunch or sweet treat. Seriously when she posts on Instagram what she baked that day I drop everything and walk up the street to try it out. I can't wait to read this book. Right now you can pre-order it and I know they'll be doing a book signing soon, I so can't wait to meet these people in person. They own at least four restaurants and an ice cream parlor here in Santa Monica. You can't be more invested in your community then that.

What are your favorite cookbooks?

Mindless Monday

Well I'm back to the daily grind, still talking about our trip to Belize, I'll have plenty to share about that in the days to come. I think I've sort of set reset, but really i'm just moving at a slower pace right now. I know I have lots of creative ideas, recipes, travel and to do's to share, lots coming your way.

In my mind I'm sitting in the chair above, enjoying the cool Caribbean breeze with my Pina Colada. Reality is I'm sitting at my desk with 2 computers (Mac and PC), an iPad, iPhone, Camera, wires and plugs, all while I'm eating my food and typing this. Oh Reality….BOO! As Da La Soul sang "Back to Life, Back to Reality."

Hope you all have a wonderful week. I still have lots of catching up to do.

Belize Part I

We are in Belize. Why did we pick this country to travel to, you may ask? For a few reason, we have good friends who live here and have asked us to come many times. Also we wanted to do a little volunteer work and put forth a few goals to a some young girls about moving where there is a greater need and helping out. So we are here in Belize. I'll share more of my adventures when I return, but see a few images from the variety of things we've already seen and done.

Mindless Monday

Yes like the rest of those of us who live in L.A. we were woken up at 6:36AM (its still dark at that hour) and we jolted out of bed. I followed SB out of the bed, only it wasn't the way I usually get out of the bed so I proceeded to bang my shin and then we just stopped in the hallway, be holding my shin asking, "where we going" and SB saying "i have no idea." Lets just say our vacation cannot start soon enough.

With that said this space may be very quiet for a few days/weeks. We're off to Belize for a much needed vacation and some fun volunteer work. We're going with another family of 5. I'll try to post pictures on Instagram and maybe get a post in here, but I'm really trying to disconnect as much as possible. I am virtually on my electronic devices 24/7 these days and need to step away and reset my focus. I have a feeling my life will change drastically in the months to year to come. It needs to, and we will totally embrace it. For now enjoy the rest of March and early April.

Pi 3.14 PieVenture

In honor of Pi day 3.14, I think you all need to take a look at our recent PieVenture.

Party Decorations from The Hip Soiree

Hey everyone! I’m Lizzie from The Hip Soiree and I’m visiting today to talk to you about party decorations. YAY! I’m so glad to be here!

Ahhhhh…party decorations. I think I can safely say they are one of my most favoritest things in the world. I’m pretty sure it comes from my love of making DIY projects and the lack of space I have to display them. Party decorations are a way to make something grandiose. I mean, you don’t want it to look like Party City just barfed all over your house. You just want to pick a few things to really wow them. Who doesn’t like to knock some socks off? No one, that’s who.

When someone asks me to help plan a party, the first thing I do is talk to them about a theme and color scheme. And by “theme,” I don’t necessarily mean an overt theme like “I want a PRINCESS party!” (I don’t get that request very often, although I kinda hope I do because I AM A PRINCESS!) Mostly it’s a vibe. Believe it or not, not everyone wants a baby shower to have pink or blue crepe paper streamers everywhere or baby circus animals. Some people just want a relaxing party with their friends before their life turns to chaos. With gifts, of course. They’re not crazy.

After we settle on a color scheme and vibe…I hit Pinterest and start a board. Let’s pull some ideas together and see what we come up with! For example, the party I helped Tanya with was a gold, modern cocktail party. (Side note - I honestly don’t remember what we did before Pinterest. Did people use real bulletin boards for stuff like this? Or did they print things out and put them in a folder? That sounds HORRIFIC!)

Once some things have been pinned to the board, I pick my favorite concepts and run with them. For example, I found a tutorial on how to make a 4” ornament, but figured out a way to make it a 24” hanging centerpiece I call an Atomic Star (Tanya calls it “The Disco Deathstar.” Everyone better hope that thing doesn’t explode because it was basically a glitter bomb just WAITING for an excuse to blow.)

Here are some examples of things I’ve made out of plain, old paper:

I also like to jazz up things that can be kinda boring. Like table centerpieces. Don’t get me wrong, I love flowers, but they’re expensive! I’ve made things like paper peonies, felt billy buttons and origami flowers. Or how about embroidered tablecloths or table runners (like the gold sequined one pictured above)? Simple and different.

And then there are decorations like these super spikey (read: deadly to the touch) modern sea urchin orbs.

It doesn’t have to specifically scream party, just amp it up a bit! And, to me, it’s touches like these that makes a good party into an awesome party. My two cents.

Now if I could just cook, I’d be an unstoppable force. Oh, Tanya….

Itsweet and Stylish on the go with Kleenex

Can I just say I had a blast with this project for Kleenex. For one I am in love with these little packages and have been taking them all around Los Angeles. These on-the-go packages have seen some of the major sites in L.A.. I had one design to take me around and it just happened to SOOO be me, and my friends for that matter. They just complemented every purse, jacket and outfit we had on. You can seriously have your pick of multiple designs that fit in with your personal style. Take a look at www.Kleenex.com/style to find the ones that are so YOU.

We took this package with us to the LaBrea Bakery, Griffith Observatory, the Gamble House in Pasadena and even up to the Chateau Marmont in Hollywood. Even the men can rock the Kleenex on-the-go packages with serious style.

My orange purse just made this package pop out, I really loved it and take a look at the inside to, even that has style.

I just so happen to love Raymond Chandler novels and he writes L.A. Crime Noir so well. Ieuan below just pulled this mood off to a tee.

Kleenex will be hosting a reveal event on March 17 at Grand Central Station in NYC where they will be unveiling the new Kleenex brand designs live with Isaac Mizrahi. Anyone can stop by the event to learn more about Kleenex brand’s 90 years of Kleenex Style, be the first to see the designs and have a chance to win some cool prizes.

This is a sponsored post by Kleenex Brand. However, all opinions expressed are my own.

Mindless Monday

The past two weeks have been a bit of blur, but also amazingly eventful. We had guests for two weeks visiting from the UK. It's a friend I've had since we were 12. Penpals, do you even know what that is? Before the days of email, texting, skype, facetime, we wrote letters and lots of them. We'll she and her husband haven't been in L.A. for over 11 years, so they were due for a visit. Over the next couple of weeks, maybe even one post before we are off to Belize, I'll share a few of the sprinklings of what we've been up to and where we went.

In the meantime, we are up for a serious vacation of our own. With a complete overhaul of our bedroom, a party thrown on one of the rainiest weekends we've ever had in L.A., working, posting, and being a full tour guide, we are ready for a vacation. Which is sort of what we'll be doing starting next week in Belize. I kind of feel like I'm at a crossroads, which that picture kind of conveys. I seriously need to set a reset button on my life. Which I hope unplugging for two weeks we'll allow me to do. Thanks to all my readers for sticking around while I try to catch up on life.

ItSweet and Stylish at Home with Kleenex

I was invited by Kleenex to celebrate their 90th anniversary, which means they've been around since the 20's, as in 1920, so this is ItSweet and Stylish look at how their cool designs work fabulousely in my humble home. I've been using Kleenex for most of my life. Their brand has become synonymous with facial tissue. We don't ask "do you have a tissue," but we do ask "do you have any Kleenex" and we automatically know what we want, they are clearly an industry leader.

Kleenex continues to show their innovations by partnering with Isaac Mizrahi, whom I adore, so this is naturally a no-brainer for me to talk about. He's got personality and style up the wazoo. Together they will introduce four new and unique designs to the Kleenex Expressions line of products, these are affordable and high-quality designs that will complete your home.

Most of the time we think of Kleenex only when we're sick, which incidentally I did this week, while writing this post, and let's just say my Kleenex came in handy. But seriously don't you always have these on hand. Now you can add these stylish boxes to any room decor.

My bedroom was dark and cozy to start off with and this particular box went perfect in the room with all my personal accessories.

Then we painted and brightened the room up, incidentally not for this post, and now look, this amazing design goes fantastic in the room. Seriously there are so many great designs for just about any decor. My side of the bed and the other more masculine side of the bed.

And finally this box looks fantastic in my office, right next to Mr. Hamatoro.

Additionally, Kleenex is hosting a sweepstakes on the website through March 7th, 2014 called, “Catwalk or Kleenex?” You can win a trip for to to NYC and $5K spending, seriously, can I go with you? Oh and you might get to meet Isaac. I die!

To enter, visit www.kleenex.com/style and answer a series of questions asking you to identify which design is Kleenex brand and which design is from the catwalk. By taking the short quiz, consumers are automatically entered to win an all-expense paid trip for two to New York City to find his/her Kleenex brand style with a famous designer. The winner will also receive $5,000 spending money for a NYC shopping spree. Entry is open January 13, 2014 through March 7th and limited to once per promotion period.

This is a sponsored post by Kleenex Brand. However, all opinions expressed are my own.