Now that I've eaten my weight in pumpkin pie, it's practically Christmas.

Hi there!  Sorry for the silence.  Life happened.

I've been meaning to show you around our apartment for a while now, but now I feel like I've waited too long and the carpet's dirty.  It's totally dirty.  Sorry.  You're still allowed in though.  Just don't look down.

Anyhoo, I went a little Christmas-crazy on Saturday.  (This relates.)   I don't know what came over me.  I woke up on Saturday in Santa Barbara (where we spent Thanksgiving), and maybe it was my hangover, or maybe it was the 80-degree weather that made me think it's Christmastime. . . . So we drove off down the coast in search of a good tree lot and a Target.

Buying a Christmas tree in L.A. is not cute.  It's not the wintry, nostalgic experience of my childhood when we used to chop down our tree in Half Moon Bay (ok, truth - that only happened like twice, and there was no snow involved obvi, but it was memorable!).  Tree-buying in L.A. is more like rescuing a barely-living plant from a depressing, shade-less parking lot.  So we rescued a tree, named it Earl, and took it home.

The Target experience was more festive to be sure.  And yes, it was frivolous and totally impulse-fueled, but I just couldn't not buy Christmas pillows.  Christmas pillows!!!  And so now is the part where I show you pictures of our living room and the things I put in it.

Here's our apartment pre-Christmasication:

Quite summery, no?

Here's our living room with the first couple holiday touches added in:

{thanks to the best grandparents-in-law for all their extra ornaments!}

I know it's not a lot, but just having a few things around to remind me of Christmas made me smile like an idiot all weekend.  (That also could have been the peppermint martinis. . . .)

The next project:  finding some stockings for our fireplace!

I'm thinking maybe some of these...

Stay tuned!

Oh Hey!

Remember me?  I used to blog things...here...on the daily...we used to talk?  Yeah.  I kind of dropped the ball on that this week.  I'm sorry, pleasedon'thateme.  The thing is, blogging is hard to keep up in the real working world.  Obviously, it's hard to be here every day when my daylight is filled to the brim with work to-do's (quite a change from my recent life hiatus).  But what's more is that it's harder for me to be producing good substance here when suddenly, so much of my internal dialogue is wrapped up in work things, and work things are things I can't share with you, because, you know, what we do is secret.  (Plus, you don't really want to know.)  So it's going to take some adjustments (*ahem* planning posts in advance *ahem*), but I'm hoping that you'll stick with me and still stop by to chat, even if it's only once or twice a week instead of everyday.

Anyhoo, one work-thing that I can talk to you about is how to decorate my office.  Seriously, I'm concerned.  Some of the other attorneys have set the bar high.  First of all, they all have plants.  Real ones.  Alive ones.  Do I have to have a plant?  I can't seem to keep basil thyme orchids any living thing alive.  I will never be able to be an office-plant-parent.  I've already failed.

Secondly, people in my office have some legit interior design skillz.  I'm not talking about offices with some framed college dorm-room posters.  I'm talking artsy frame walls, "Keep Calm and Carry On" prints, and trendy tree-branch lamps.  Office decor that has character; that says something about a person.  I've got to step up my game.  This is what I've got:

1. I need a lamp, a trendy lamp (Homegoods, anyone?).  Everyone has a lamp.  But definitely no plant.  No, I'll just kill it and then everyone will know that I am the least nurturing human being on the planet.  No one wants to work with a plant-killer.

2. I should put some framed pictures of people I love on my desk.  That's what people do, right?  But work people always have these pictures that are cute, but not too cute.  Everyone looks like they're having a pretty dandy time, but with a 2-drink limit.  No open-mouth laughs allowed.  No candids.  Dress code enforced.  You know the ones.  And then there's the directional issue -- which way are they supposed to face?  Should I be looking at them?  Or should they face the people who come into my office?  It's all very unclear.

3. As for the walls, I should probably make some selections from my own photo library to matte and frame because it's cheap, and they'll remind me in my moments of work-induced despair that I'm capable of making pretty things sometimes.  But they need to be relaxing pictures.  Like grays and neutrals.  Not pictures that jump off the walls, or that are too distracting, or that remind me that I could be on a beach somewhere instead of in my office, but also not pictures that make me want to sleep.  Because when I work, I want to be zen, but not too zen, right?  And they can't be too artsy because I'm supposed to be a lawyer and all that.  So here's what I like:

 {ok, this one is totally not "neutral" but I like it}

And then there are these other ones from Turkey that totally don't match the others...but I like them, too.

Which 5 of these do I want to look at all day, everyday?

4. In the likely scenario that I never have the time to check off the "print and frame work pictures" item off my sticky-notes to-do list, I could always get one of these posters and hope that people mistake me for hipster.  Or funny.


What's your office decor like?  Got any tips for this newbie?

Oh, and a Happy Weekend to you!

Apt. #10

Remember that show on MTV, Cribs?  Today's post is not at all like that.  Except for the celebrity-host, gaudy mansion, and 15-car garage, but otherwise, just like that.

While I may not be as famous as some (or any) of the hosts on Cribs, I do know a little bit about apartments.  Since I left for college 7 years ago, I have lived in 9 different apartments, in 5 different cities.  Needless to say, craigslist has been my best friend (I may or may not have been known as the “Craigslist Queen” for a period of time).

Despite never having lived in one place for more than 9 months (I'm a landlord's worst nightmare), I still insist on putting effort into decorating every one of my apartments to suit my style.  This is most likely because - this is where you pick the right answer: (a) I believe that a person's relationship with his/her physical space can have a real impact on his/her happiness and sense of well-being, (b) I see every impossibly small, awkwardly partitioned apartment as a challenge and I will never admit defeat, (c) I can't pass up a good excuse to buy pretty things -- on discount, of course, or (d) all of the above.  Which one is right?  You'll never know.  JK.  It's (d) all of the above, duh.  (Can you tell that studying for the Bar has turned everything into a multiple choice question in my mind???  Bar-brain is taking over!)

If you haven't deserted me yet, please let me introduce you to my 10th little apartment project – our one-bedroom by the beach.  Welcome to our crib.

It is a little disturbing to me that you can basically see my entire apartment in one picture, not using a wide lens or anything...but at least I think it looks like a good place to be.  (I guess I should have warned you that if you expected this to be a grand apartment tour like you see on other blogs, you should readjust your expectations.  I make negative money, live in California, and don't have time to go out and buy flowers in preparation for blog posts, remember?)

Regardless of its size, I love this place.  It really has the best energy, or feng-shui, or whatever you want to call it.

When we moved into this apartment, I vowed not to purchase an IKEA couch.  I wanted a real couch; a nice couch.  So I got this one, from IKEA.  Ha.  I just love it though, and with the money we saved on that, I could splurge on my favorite persimmon Martini side tables from West Elm.

Oh, and I made all the pillows (with zippers!) and re-covered the ottoman (which opens for extra storage)!  The day after I finished final exams I just needed to get all my pent up creative energy out, so I made all of these in one day.  (I know, I'm crazy.  But it felt so good.)  I used the online sewing tutorials over at Design Sponge (here and here), and they were so easy to follow.  I would definitely recommend them to anyone who is a beginner sewer like me!

{orange and blue and green}

The artwork on the wall next to the couch represents my three favorite cities.  The big canvas print is something I impulsively picked up at Urban Outfitters -- it's an illustration of all of Italy's famous monuments squished together around one piazza and it reminds me of Florence.  The other two are maps of San Francisco and LA made into illustrations by Aaron Straup Cope that Brian got me as a birthday present. Here's a better view of them.

Please also note the fabulous arc lamp (registry present!) that has been my obsession for years, and the homeless surfboard.  There's another one in the closet.  Someone has to come up with a better way to store surfboards, really.

I really hate how big TVs just eat up space like a big black hole in your living room, but the white TV is a bit better.  Plus, I love it for all the mindlessness it brings to my life.  On the right of the TV is a water polo ball signed by all of Brian's former teammates.  It reminds him of his glory days.

The elephant, purchased at (where else?) Homegoods, and bedazzled by moi, is one of my favorite household accessories.  He's been with me for two years now.  Did you know that elephants with upturned trunks are supposed to bring you good luck?  I'm counting on it.

After searching at thrift stores and craigslist and the Rose Bowl Flea Market for the perfect entrance console table, I caved in and used registry money to buy this one at Crate&Barrel.  Sure, it's a little expected, but it's really perfect for the space, and it kind of feels nice to have nice things sometimes.

Also, you probably won't care at all about this, but one of my greatest successes in decorating this place was finding all five of those matching double-sided glass frames at Homegoods one day.  It's usually impossible to find multiples of anything there, but I got lucky and found five.  And they were exactly what I needed since you can see the console table from both sides.  I was seriously so happy that day that I could write a whole post about it (but I won't for your sake).  It's the small things, people.

{On the left: a gem, just in case you thought I was forsaking my hippie NorCal roots, and a beautiful vase from Iran gifted to me from my long-time friend Sogol; on the right: bird vases from our wedding going to good use.}

Personally, I would have chosen non-pink flowers for the vases, but when your neighbor's front yard is your floral supplier, you can't be picky.

I bought a bookshelf and then filled it with BarBri books (fml).  But then I bought herbs to put on top so now I feel less awful every time I look over there.  It's been 5 days and they're still alive (great success)!

{Readers, meet Betty the Basil and Ronny the Rosemary.  Betty and Ronny, meet my Readers.}

{the dining "room"}

This dining table is one of my favorite furniture purchases ever.  I bought it on Craigslist from a stager, who had me pick it up from her warehouse in Hunter's Point in San Francisco.  For those of you who know where that is, 'nuff said.  For those of you who don't, let's just say it is THE sketchiest place you could ever imagine.  I don't even know if you could imagine the extent of the sketchiness.  Like, cars just left in the middle of the road that make you wonder if the people were kidnapped straight out of the passenger seats sketchy.  And my only protection was my friend Shahrzad, who is a wonderful friend, but let me tell you, she'd make as good of a body guard as I would a housewife.  So that was a trip.

The chairs I bought at an antique sale - they are vintage Herman Miller leather chairs.  The ones that connect on the sides.  I don't know how much they are worth, but I got them for a steal at $80 for all four!  They are also the only items of furniture that Brian has ever expressed an opinion about (he vetoed my suggestion that we sell them instead of transporting them to L.A.).  They are probably the coolest things I own.

The rug was a $20 steal at Urban Outfitters, and the bowl is Nambe (another one of my favorite registry items - thank you wedding guests)!  The pictures are both mine - one from Aruba, one from LA - which I had printed on canvas - DIY art!

{California 4 Life}

{clearly a spotlight lamp was really necessary here}

This bar is the first piece of furniture Brian and I ever bought together.  Quite fitting considering the first gift Brian ever gave me was a margarita set, eh?  We spotted it (OK, I spotted it) at a garage sale in the Marina in SF while we were on our way to brunch with some friends.  After brunch, I made Brian go back and negotiate, and we got it for a great price.   A few days later, Brian sent me a link to the Crate&Barrel website showing that the fabulous bar we had just purchased was selling there for 10 times the price!  Ya garage sales!  It all opens up and the top unfolds so that it can be a proper bar, too!

Besides drinking Dom from our fancy bar, we also like to eat.  So here is our kitchen, where our personal chef cooks us gourmet 100-calorie meals 6 times a day.

I was kidding - you got that, right?  As if I would only eat 600 calories a day.  Pshh.  Anyway, there's not much to see in our tiny kitchen, but I tried to make it look as interesting as possible.

{the essentials}

{I have a blackboard addiction.  I'll show you my wedding thank-you cards one day and you'll understand.}

{I'm a sucker for uselessly gorgeous kitchen accessories}

And this is where the magic happens.  HA.  I've been waiting to say that this whole time.  But I'm actually not going to show you much of our bedroom because (a) it's not done at all; and (b) some of us don't know each other that well yet.  

I will show you this though -- this is the view I wake up to every morning.

{hello palm tree}

Please forgive me the college-dorm-style IKEA lamp.  I need something to make me feel young, OK?

And this is my Buddhist goddess head, and her throne of books.  Mostly this is here to make you laugh.  Please observe the book titles.  This is both the most Bohemian and most conservative corner of our apartment.  Irony, my friends.

On the left is an engagement picture that I had made into a silhouette via Le Papier Studio on Etsy, and it says "I left my <3 in San Francisco" along the bottom.  I was going to use it as a guest book type thing at our wedding, but then I didn't want people to sign all over it because it was so pretty.  So now it hangs.

On the right is the nightstand that I picked up at the Crate&Barrel outlet for $15!  Yes, $15!  It's not quite the modern tree stump from West Elm that I had been dreaming of, but I'm not one to pass up a good deal.  On top is a beachy-ish lamp from Homegoods, and my "One Line a Day" diary, a gift from my lovely friend Lydia.

What to do with girly things is a big conundrum when you move in with a boy.  I've managed to (mostly) contain all of my girly knick-knacks and accessories to one area - my vanity.  Well, it's not quite a vanity.  It's actually the Sloan Leaning Desk from Crate&Barrel (geez, I'm apparently sub-consciously obsessed with that store), and then I stuck a round mirror on the wall so I can see myself while I blow dry.  I re-covered an ottoman I owned to use as a stool.  I really like how it came out, and Brian is just happy he doesn't have hairspray and foundation brushes all up in his space.

And now, in true Cribs fashion, I will conclude this tour by saying: Thanks for stopping by; NOW GET OUT!

(JK, you can come in any time.  Especially if you bring wine.  Or bread.)

Parker Paradise

So I lied when I said I was going to post about Palm Springs "later today" ("today" being yesterday).  But today is a new day to procrastinate.  So here we go. 

Palm Springs.  Palm Springs is the kind of place that makes me wish I had more money.  A lot more money.  And the kind of place that makes me wish I could time travel. 

This was my first time in the resort town, and I had high hopes of ritzy espadrille-wearing beauties lounging under striped poolside umbrellas, egg chairs hanging from ceilings in mid-century mod living rooms, and ice-cold St. Germaine cocktails brought by waiters in salmon polo shirts.  It turns out that this old-time paradise does exist, but only at the Parker Palm Springs.  (Hence why Palm Springs makes me wish I had enough money to be a guest in one of the Parker's suites.)

We didn't make it to the Parker until the second day, when it was overcast, but the moment I stepped foot inside, I thought, THIS is Palm Springs.  It's everything I had been expecting, and frankly, had been disappointed in not finding at any other hotel or restaurant.  There were some highlights from the first day that I'll fill you in on later, but for today, I give you the glamourous and the fabulous from the Parker.

{Mod perfected.}

{Can I have this fireplace please?  Or the whole room?  Maybe I could just move in?}

And I finally got my hanging egg chairs!  It's my dream to have only these in my house.  Once you hang in an egg chair, you never go back.

 {It's the small things in life}

And my friend Shahrzad was nice enough to be my model for a shot - she's gorg :)

See what I mean?  Aren't you thinking THAT is Palm Springs?!  You should be.  And that's just the lobby.  Add brunch at Norma's, and you've got heaven, mid-century style.

{I'm in love with these colors!}

We had brunch at Norma's with Shahrzad and her friend Cyrus, and it was the best food I had all weekend.  Sharz had the sea-bass fish tacos (all of you who know Sharz are not surprised), and they were outstanding - light chipotle sauce and crispy fish.  The waitress said they were the best lunch item on the menu, and I don't doubt it for a second.  The brioche french toast also looked insane and huuuuge.  Plus, they had Jonathon Adler placemats and salt/pepper shakers - my fave!

And here's a little tour of the premises.  Be prepared to ooh and ahh in delight and envy.

{Wouldn't you like to stay THERE?}

{Pool perfection}

And some people shots taken in front of the hotel.  How awesome is that wall?

I feel like a salesperson for the Parker or something, but for reals, this is Palm Springs.  So go there.  Eat there.  Lounge there.  Be fabulous.

**Update: Cyrus found out that the ENTIRE resort was designed by Jonathon Adler! No wonder I love it!