A Trip Through the Sun, From France

Ah, this room makes me feel light. Imperfect walls, a rugged collection of paintings and sketches, ultra-bright pillows... just insert me lounging like a cat on the couch right over there. 

That chair. What confidence. Should I mayhaps be in an entirely white & polished room, an iMac gazing into my eyes, with bouquets of my friends poised around the desk in front of me? I could. Or I could totally be the subject of attention against this rustic landscape. 

She prefers eyes on her at all times. But may have to share the attention with that good lookin' ladder.

I'm really curious as to what's above this bed... my dreams would be complete if it were an office that I could just sneak away to without anyone noticing. Or an art studio, omg. Or maybe it's just a hideaway retreat for some relaxation.

Well I just felt like I was walking through the sun. Please invite me over anytime, will you?

*m

{Style Files}

Spring Spring Spring!

Oh golly jee willickers, it's SPRING! Officially. Completely. No joking around.

Mother Nature just took her sweet time to bring us even a hint of sunshine here on the west coast, though, didn't she? But now that it's here, I'll be oh-so-courteous and oh-so-grateful because I was beginning to imagine my life as permanently monochromatic. 

But NO! This is what my life looks like now! 

That's me... there in the back... oh, behind that girl... oh wait, you can't really see me... but I swear I was with them, I swear!

Ben Gile's work is so perfect for spring. Each piece is livened up by these electrifying colours of flowers in full bloom. 

But he also experiments with vintage photos in the most provocative ways, too.

So that I'm like, oh, this guy is a creative collage genius. 

This fella knows what he's doing. And I am definitely going to plaster my inspiration board with these. 

*m

The Antlers and Some Goodies

Listen to the lyrics.

A few nights ago I was up late chatting with a friend, and the topic of music came up.

Always a casual subject, I was expecting an exchange of songs, and that would be it. 

I was saying how if you listen to Bon Iver's Blood Bank at the same time as Rainy Mood, it can lull you to sleep within minutes. He agreed. "But nothing will ever come close to The Antlers."

Here are the lyrics.

...and he was right. I have been completely wooed.
It isn't often that music can actually hypnotize me enough so that if I lay down and listen to it, I can just let their lyrics breathe through me, the delicate notes of piano acting as a heartbeat to their message. Their music is beautiful.

Please listen to these songs! I hope it shall resonate with you as deeply as it has with me. *read in an elderly English accent for most impact*



Anyways, it's good to be home. I've spent the last week reading To the Lighthouse, sipping variations of David's Tea (can't get any better than this), watching Pride & Prejudice over and over (don't ask why, not sure myself, I was just obsessed) and playing Kettering on the piano, but the internet connection has been a sketchy, disappointing situation so I couldn't post anythang.

But YO! Because I have abandoned you unexpectedly for a week, I fully intend to make up for that by making this post full of equally unexpected goodies. 

Ilana Kohn, Spring '12

Ilana Kohn, you too have wooed me with your breezy tops and sundresses. Something about watching Keira Knightley wander through the knolls of the English countryside in those simple, high waisted dresses make me want to throw away my entire wardrobe and replace them with summer dresses fit for six glorious weeks of July spent in a French chateau. Really not too much to ask.

Bzrbzr Ombre Tights

Ombre tights are easily my newest obsession. Scrolling down past each photo was like watching a flower bloom in slow motion, a little in awe... at tights. Aka Tiffany Ju has made tights into something of an art and that is no small feat, I'm sure.

Slash this song came on and I found it quite suitable. Refer to the line: "...and you can walk your long legs, baby, right out of my life."

Scout & Catalogue, Spring '12

If I could look anywhere near as effortlessly cool as this girl, then I'm sold. This photo shoot was apparently shot entirely in the dead of winter, but they've achieved such a dainty, spring-like vibe to it all with her distressed blonde hair, the pastel palette, and the happy splash of vibrant ocean colours.

LAS Jewelry

Okay, who doesn't want a wolf eating their finger as a ring. That isn't a question on purpose. I already know the answer. And note the battle wounds on the ears of the rabbit, what a unique touch to an already whimsical piece itself. 

Erin Wasson for Zadig & Voltaire

Here are a few goodies hand picked from her shots for Zadig & Voltaire, Summer '12 collection. What did I take from these photos? 

a. I want her hair (...slash her face in general, and her ability to look so absolutely laid back while maintaining that rocker, bad-ass look).

b. This will be my French vacation home I was mentioning earlier. Oh golly jee willickers, guys, just bought it, so excited!

and c. Above all, I need Zadig & Voltaire in my summer wardrobe, stat. 

This has to be the most ornate, stunning, intricate fireplace I have ever seen. Talk about paying attention to details. It's honestly a form of art in this room, I can't take my eyes off it. 

Mmm, greenery. Come to mama! I would be so at peace working here. Kudos to the architect who intentionally forgot a wall, pretty brilliant.

ILa Boom Shadow Boxes (found via Happiness is...)

D'aaaw. I can already a picture an entire wall dedicated to these enchanting shadow boxes, in an otherwise totally minimalist room. Very scandinavian, eh? 

Oh, and ps, be prepared to be washed over with envy. The creator of these gems lives on a small cycladic sland, Antiparos, with the Aegean sea stretching beyond her view for miles upon miles, acting as her inspiration and source of calm. Wow. 

***

Until next time, I bid you adieu.

That was my cat alter ego speaking.

*m

Disheveled Statements

I think finding yourself surrounded by everything you've created would be such a constant source of inspiration and motivation, too. Although, gotta admit, this really reminds me of the scene from the Black Swan, where she looks into her mother's studio and the paintings of her all start screaming at the same time. Disturbing timez.

Will never look at Australia the same way. Sorry, Aussies, you forever live on an island shaped as a mouth.

Black & white & black & white & black & white. Usually I'd be begging for a burst of colour, but this room's serenity comes from its simplicity.

Slash I'd totally feel like some brooding, moody, Parisian photographer. Which is definitely a good thing.

This room is actually insane. And not only because it looks as if it is literally a piece of artwork in itself, just think about the story behind that stained mattress, empty closet, with a wall full of meticulously framed artwork, but because it isn't real.

Say whaaat? 

It's a miniature scene! Every itty-bitty detail that was thought out for this room just became massively impressive. When I think of how precisely she must have used her fingers, not to mention the star surgeon's hand she must have had to keep every move so steady, it just boggles my mind. God, I love miniature houses, or just miniature things in general. 

Highly suggest you go check out the rest of this gal's work.

...I can now very realistically see myself as a professional doll house interior designer upon retirement. That and own six dachshunds. 

*m

{1, 2, 3, 4, 5: solid frog, bbz, ashley curry}

Words of Wisdom Wednesday

Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson, an astrophysicist and one of the most brilliant people I've ever heard speak, was asked by a TIMES reader,  "What is the most astounding fact you can share with us about the universe?"

Watch this. And your mind will be blown. 

"Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted."

~Randy Pausch

"The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. The brick walls are there to stop people who don't want it badly enough."

~Randy Pausch

“But you see," said Roark quietly, "I have, let’s say, sixty years to live. Most of that time will be spent working. I’ve chosen the work I want to do. If I find no joy in it, then I’m only condemning myself to sixty years of torture. And I can find the joy only if I do my work in the best way possible to me. But the best is a matter of standards—and I set my own standards. I inherit nothing. I stand at the end of no tradition. I may, perhaps, stand at the beginning of one.” 

~ Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead

{observando}

"So that when I look up at the night sky, and I know that, yes, we are part of this universe, we are in this universe, but perhaps more important than both of those facts, is that the universe is in us."

Again. Boggles my mind. 

“I'm selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best.” 

~ Marilyn Monroe

I'm leaving you today with two more videos, and if you watch both, perhaps not at the same time, but even if just throughout the day or the next week or even the next month, I guarantee you will be just as moved as I was. 

*m

Feminine Functionality

Oh, hello there chair of my dreams. Correction: entire desk of my dreams. Not too cluttered, and not too minimalist to the point where if I left an eraser at a forty-five degree angle the world would implode. 

The collection of logs adds a very "rugged but still totally feminine getaway" look. That's a term, right?

Oh, ho, ho! Deja vu! I love seeing how a bedroom fits into the rest of its home.

Yet another fur throw! I'd get along with this girl for sure. And would ya look at that painting, it blows me away. So much warmth and emotion.

I can already envision myself groggily stumbling in, and just instantly be perked up with this amount of light. Even if it were rainy, I feel like the colour of the wall, although dark, is actually quite comforting. Kind of wraps you up in its comforting hue.

I love when a home strikes the right balance between making a statement and actual practicality, so that you can really imagine yourself living there. I know I'm not alone when I say that I can easily see myself working away at that luxuriously comfortable desk, or curled up with a fur throw in the inviting living room (because let's be honest, fur throws are something of a staple in this house). 

Sometimes though, practicality can be interpreted as completely minimalist, when it's just bare white walls, dramatically high ceilings, with a single navy couch in the middle of the room and a stainless steel encased fireplace, maybe a red tricycle in the corner for a statement. But, I really can't see myself living in a place like that. Because although you could say that minimalism is the height of functionality, we're all human, and we need comfort, too.

That said, I understand that some people would want total and complete minimalism because that is what they find comforting in itself. Just my two cents.

*m

{Design Sponge}