The Time Is Now...

May we all go forth

and do what we must do.

xo

Happy Thanksgiving Week

No matter the path or the 

end result...

it always comes down to the journey...

it's always the journey.

Always. 

XO

Images via Vogue, Pinterest

It's The Weekend~ Express Yourself

Artify yourself ~ your life.

Rostarr: B-Boy Abstractionfrom Matt Black on Nowness.com.

Romon Kimin Yang AKA Rostarr

found a therapeutic outlet for himself 

and we discover a wide range of talent through his prints,

paintings, graphics and more...

Get out there and discover something...

xo

Well Read

Whether you enjoy a room stacked floor to ceiling...

Or piled for useful purpose....
simply put,
There should always be

always room for more.

xo

Happy Tuesday

Life IS subjective...

xo

Hello Monday~

Mondays can be hard... that's a given, but seriously,

it always comes down to....Attitude.

Source: goldandgray.blogspot.com via Debbie on Pinterest

You dig?

Source: theimpossiblecool.tumblr.com via Debbie on Pintere

I DIG~

SO Fine Art...

Brush strokes, oil, water color, pastel,

canvas, wood panel....

I'm telling you right now its ALL good.

I say by hook or crook 

or indeed website

get there 

or simply ....

 Bid.

xo

Let's Roll~

WORD.

Gerhard Richter Painting on Nowness.com.

...#ChallengeYourself

xo.

Fabulous article on Roy Lichtenstein 

by Kevin Conley in 

Town & Country

Roy Lichtenstein

Positively brilliant...

Colorful, Pop, Icon...

GO

xo

Hello November

Spike Jonze: Mourir Auprès de Toi on Nowness.com.

Spike Jonze: Mourir Auprès de Toi

The Celebrated Filmmaker and Designer Olympia Le-Tan Co-create a Tale to Pierce the Heart

Designer Olympia Le-Tan's embroidered clutch-bags spring to life in director Spike Jonze’s tragicomic stop-motion animation Mourir Auprès de Toi (To Die By Your Side). On a shelf in famed Parisian bookstore Shakespeare and Company, the star-crossed love story of a klutzy skeleton and his flame-haired amour plays out amidst Le-Tan’s illustrations of iconic first-edition book covers. "It's such a beautiful and romantic place,” offers Le-Tan of the antiquarian bookstore. "The perfect setting for our story!” The project started after Jonze asked for a Catcher in the Rye embroidery to put on his wall and the plucky Le-Tan asked for a film in return. Enlisting French filmmaker Simon Cahn to co-direct, the team wrote the script between Los Angeles and Paris over a six month period, before working night and day animating the 3,000 pieces of felt Le-Tan had cut by hand. “I love getting performances from, telling stories about and humanizing things that aren’t human,” said Jonze of working with Le-Tan’s characters. After spending five years adapting Maurice Sendak’s Where The Wild Things Are, Jonze’s recent shorts include robot love story I’m Here and an inspired G.I. Joe-starring video for The Beastie Boys. “A short is like a sketch,” he says. “You can have an idea or a feeling and just go and do it.” Here the iconic director reveals his creative process to writer Maryam L'Ange.

How did the film come about?
I met Olympia in Paris through friends of mine. She was just starting to make the bags for her friends. She had a bunch of the scraps in her bag, all of the cut-out pieces of felt. I just loved it. I loved all the artwork she picked, the texture of it, the stitching of the felt. We joked about making a film and just went for it. It was this thing with no schedule, no pressure and no real reason to be—other than just that we thought it would be fun.

Did you write the story together?
Yeah we did. We would look at all the artwork over lunch whenever we would be in the same city, noting any ideas that would just make us smile. It was done like that, with no real plans.

What’s your creative process?
You just start with what the feeling is. For this one the feeling definitely started with the handmade aesthetic and charm of Olympia’s work. Instantly I had the idea of doing it in a bookstore after-hours, imagining the lights coming down and these guys off their books. Me and Olympia both wanted to make a love story, and it was fun to do it with these characters. It evolved naturally and it all just started with the feeling. From there you entertain yourself with ideas that excite you.

Do you go with your gut instinct?
If it cracks me up. We were talking about the skeleton coming off his book and the girl in the Dracula book waving at him. Olympia is someone who is just absurd, she’s used to just saying anything. She just started making the blowjob gesture as a joke to make us laugh but I was like, “We’ve got to do that.” It’s about taking things that could just be a joke while brainstorming and actually going for it and using it.

What inspires you?
People inspire me. Humberto Leon and Carol Lim [from Opening Ceremony] and the confidence and creativity in how they run their business. Pixar’s really inspiring, they make films in the best possible way. They’re always focused on story. I could list a million people that inspire me all the time. David Bowie’s music, Charlie Kauffman, David Russell. A lot of people that I work with too, just conversations I have with them about what we want to do.

To read an interview with Olympia Le-Tan about the making of the animation visit our Facebook page here. 

via Nowness

xo

Renewed Interests

                       Artwork : AJH

After a fabulous evening of delicious food &
 sensory deprivation with Ross

and our friends Lynn and Brian, where we spent the better 

part of the evening blindfolded~

I realized I am overdue...for weighing in at...

In A Single Day...

Stay tuned.

xo

The Good Life

Ahh April!

For many it is feeling like the 

winter will never end but here in California it is feeling like 

the middle of summer (at least this week).

To me, April is always associated with

the spring break road trips- like the ones we took with the kids,

 Palm Springs, the college town (and food ) tour from Georgia

 to Indiana,

the amusement park tour (Ross and kids)...

it is also the time of year, where I can't get enough of

local nurseries, seed banks, gardening and 

getting my hands dirty along with plenty of sweat equity.

It is the time of year to take stock of details~

inside and out

 prepare for the next two seasons 

as we will fill them with outdoor living, 

laughing, cooking, eating and sharing with

 the friends and family 

who mean so much.

With that in mind, I am on hiatus...

taking time to listen to the birds sing,

pro create (ART ~FOOD~ FLOWERS)

go exploring and of course, smell the roses.

Here's to hoping you get out and do the same.

xo

Check Your Cholesterol At The Door

Around the West, pretty much everyone
 has heard of, (if not enjoyed)

In- N-Out Burger.  It's kind of a cult thing.

Their menu is one born of simplicity ...or so it seems- 

when you look at the menu offering their

burger, cheeseburger, fries and shakes.

However, there is a secret menu offering up 

combinations many are familiar with and there is a 

super secret menu which few are familiar with...

\

Of course, everyone knows about grilled onions

but they also will grill whole onion slices.

A new underground favorite is 'mustard-grilled'

where after cooking one side, they squirt mustard on the patty 

before flipping it.

Do you like things spicy?

Ask for 'Chopped Chilies' and if you want them on the side, they'll give 

them to you in a sealed baggie. 

Everyone knows about 'Animal Style'

(grilled onions, mustard, extra spread and pickles)

But how about 'The Flying Dutchman' animal style?

That's with  two patties/ two cheese/ no bun

If you're a fry freak like me ~ 

(frankly, I'm not a huge fan of their fries they remind me of 

Pik-Nik Stix) but they are improved when ordered

'Well Done'   AND  when they are included

in the order as 'Fries Inside'. 

And of course, I usually get a Diet Coke-

you've got to cut out somewhere, but if you like

 shakes with your fries, why should you choose one flavor,

 when you can order all three~ 'Neopolitan style'

Research like this takes time and effort, of course, so 

 this definitely gets filed under the category of... 

it's a big job~but somebody has to do it.
Check out Serious Eats  for these secrets,
ordering tips, insider info and more!

xo 

Quote of The Day

T&C

All difficult things have their origin

 in that which is easy,

and great things in that which is small.

Lao-Tsze

More Than An Actress

RIP Elizabeth Taylor

Modus Operandi

Live a creative life

without fear.

Luxe Living: It's A Cliffhanger

I love a good view and combined

with cement and a pool, well that's Nirvana.

Ultramodern by design, this fantastic cliff-side residence in Thailand thrusts its occupants into the natural surroundings – forests on two sides, chiseled stone on the third and a sensational ocean view on the fourth. via dornob

             You know when the Ricardos are in Hollywood and 

Fred says to Ethel,

(referring to to movie stars)

"they may be just like us...

but they're not like you and me"?

                               Well, I think this is just like that.       

xo

Quote of The Day

Let's go on a livin' spree-

(cause) they say the best things in  life

are free.

Kanye West

Monday Morning Ab Fab

Life needs more ridiculousness right now.

Now let's get started.

xo

Quote of The Day

The most completely lost of all days,

is that on which one has not laughed.

Chamfort