CALIFORNIA DESIGN AT LACMA

We barely squeaked in some time to see LACMA's California Design exhibit during our trip to L.A. I mainly wanted to see it in order to check out the Eames' living room recreated inside the museum. All the contents of the living room were temporarily moved out of their Case Study house in order to do some renovations. The New York Times wrote an article on this project.

Unfortunately, taking photos of the Eames living room replica was not allowed. But it was a sight to behold. To my surprise, the living room featured a mash-up of various styles. It was more eclectic and cluttered than I imagined it would be. It was definitely modern in style, but I was also struck by how  warm and cozy the space seemed.

I did manage to get these pictures, which I took with my phone so please excuse the crappy quality. There was so much modern furniture to behold and drool over.

These lamps were to die for. Wish I could have whisked them off to our apartment!

The exhibit was not just about furniture or interior decor. It featured fashion and other areas of design. I really wish I could have lingered and soaked up the inspiration that was all around. We could only spare 45 minutes in there as we were between meetings with friends. California Design runs until June 3, 2012, so if you're in the area and appreciate good design, then go check it out!

CALIFORNIA LOVE!

Our trip down to Los Angeles was fast and furious as usual. I always enjoy going back to the place I grew up. It seems that I never have enough time to see all my relatives and friends. This time around the Dude and I were in Los Angeles proper for only two days so we were over-ambitious in our effort to see as many people as we could. The rest of the time we spent in the desert, in Palm Springs.

The catalyst for the trip was my best friend's son's first birthday. It was celebrated in the traditional Korean way and there was a huge spread of festive, symbolic food set out on the head table.



One thing I always look forward to when visiting SoCal is the food! I become a glutton and try to eat as much as I can of all the foods I miss.

My favourite bakery is Europane in Pasadena. We went there twice in one day! They have the best egg salad sandwich ever. And their lemon bar is divine. We also went to Fred 62 in Los Feliz for breakfast, and I ordered the Bearded Mr. Frenchy, which is french toast coated in cornflakes. Decadently delicious.





I took the Dude out to see a couple of L.A. landmarks: The Griffith Observatory and Randy's Donuts, both which have been used as backdrops in multiple films. The Dude, being a total nerd, really enjoyed the Observatory. I, on the other hand, enjoyed the views in spite of it being a very hazy day. We stopped by Randy's Donuts on the way to the airport; I couldn't leave L.A. without indulging in at least one donut (it's one of the foods I miss the most). It was the first time I had a donut from Randy's, and it was okay. I've had better elsewhere. I mainly wanted to take a picture there.

Of course, I had to do some design research during our trip. We checked out the California Design exhibit at LACMA ever so briefly (which I'll blog about later). And we stayed at the Ace Hotel in Palm Springs, which is known for their very cool decor (I'll also devote a separate blog post on it).



It goes without saying, but we definitely enjoyed the toasty sunny climate in SoCal - a nice break from rainy, gloomy Vancouver. However, a downside was that the dry atmosphere made my vision more blurry than usual so the poor Dude, who hates driving, had to steer through L.A.'s perilous streets and freeways. We managed to return to Vancouver in one piece...and with our marriage intact.

SHOP UPDATE: GOING ON VACATION

Halloween is going to be here before you know it. Currently there are a couple of Halloween themed items in the LAX TO YVR shop. I only have one Halloween streamer left! And I'm participating in another giveaway this month! You can check out the details over at the Rikrak studio blog.

Also, both my shops will be closed October 14-19 as we'll be traveling down to Southern California. I'm especially looking forward to getting a bit of R&R in Palm Springs. I haven't been there in ages! Our family used to go there regularly when I was a kid. Can't wait to be in the desert again.

In other news, I've been very busy renovating our living room for the last month. I finally finished painting it in Benjamin Moore Simply White. I love this shade of white. It looks so clean and bright. We're also gradually acquiring new furniture for the space. Most of it is from IKEA, which I feel conflicted about, but whatevs. I'll get over it. Most of it is for my office space anyway. The last major  piece of furniture we have to get is a loveseat. We're seriously considering one from EQ3, but I've read so many negative reviews that I'm scared to purchase anything from that store. We shall see.

My vision is still not 100% after the laser eye surgery I got last month. Hence, I'm not blogging as much as I'd like because staring at a computer screen really irritates my eyes. I've been dealing with a perpetual headache ever since the surgery due to straining my eyes constantly, so it's really affected my productivity and energy level. Hopefully, my vision will be less blurry VERY SOON.

I'm going to try to take some decent pictures during our trip (in spite of my vision) so I can share with you all the great things I love about SoCal.

MY FAVOURITE PLACES TO EAT IN VANCOUVER

There are four restaurants in Vancouver that I love to go to regularly. The food is consistently good whenever I dine at any of these establishments.

 1. Bob Likes Thai Food. The best Thai restaurant in the city. I always order the chicken fried rice. It's one of my favourite comfort foods.

 2. Lin. The Shanghai juice pork dumplings are a must. Hands down the best Chinese restaurant in the westside. The wait staff is not very attentive, but the food is so damn good that I put up with the bad service.

 3. Salade de Fruits. When I had the pear tart for dessert, it was, ahem, an orgasmic experience (see photo above). The menu is all in French, but the servers are very helpful in translating and making recommendations. Warning: cash only.

 4. La Taqueria. Finally a joint that serves up decent tacos. And all their meat is free-range to boot. I'm so happy that they opened a second location on Cambie and Broadway, which is a lot more accessible for me.

STUFF I BUY FROM ETSY

Every morning when I open the kitchen cabinet to grab a mug, I'm greeted by Lionel Richie. When I first saw this mug from Lenny Mud I knew I had to have it. I'm not even a fan of Lionel Richie. I don't know any of his music. But I just could not resist this mug for some reason. I also bought the Mr. Tea mug from the same shop because I used to be a huge A-Team fan.

This is the song "Hello" that inspired the mug.



I plan to sing it the next time we go to karaoke.

SHOP UPDATE

Over the last little while, I've been gradually adding a new line of hand-painted alphabet letters to the LAX TO YVR shop. These new letters feature a stencil style serif font.

I'll also soon be adding a couple of new felt garlands. I just sewed them up yesterday and need to photograph them.

For the month of September, I'm a sponsor on the My Girl Thursday blog. You should check out Thursday's fun blog! As part of the sponsorship I'm offering 10% off everything (before shipping) in my shop until the end of September. Just use coupon code MGTSEPT11 at checkout. The other great sponsors on Thursday's blog are also offering discount coupons. Retail therapy, anyone?

In other news, I'm getting laser eye surgery today! So I'll be taking a break from blogging until I recover from the procedure. I'm a bit nervous, but I'm looking forward to taking time off and resting post-surgery.

THE BLACK WALL

Yes, I finally did it! I painted the black accent wall I've been fantasizing about for months on end. The black wall happened where the red accent wall used to be in the living room. The paint I used is Behr "Cracked Pepper."





The red was a lovely colour but it made our living room feel a little too "cozy." The black wall recedes into the background so it makes things feel a bit more spacious. The black wall is actually not really black. It's a dark grey that looks navy blue when it's very bright and charcoal grey when it's very dark. I wish it were a bit darker actually, but I'm sure that if I went for a dark shade I would probably wish it were lighter.



Anyway, it's très très exciting to have a black wall finally.

This week I'm starting to paint the rest of the living room in Benjamin Moore "Simply White." I'm hoping it will reflect light better than the current drab renter's white. Also, I'm excited to use a paint brand other than Behr. My goal is to finish painting the living room by the end of October.

LAX TO YVR GIVEAWAY!

LAX TO YVR is participating in its first giveaway!

There are some great prize packs to be won over at the rikrak studio blog. I'm giving away two alphabet letters painted on burlap from my shop!

Details on how to enter the giveaway are here.

Happy weekend!

CRAFT HOTEL IN BUENOS AIRES

I meant to blog about this hotel we stayed at in Buenos Aires ages ago. So back in March we went down to Argentina to attend my cousin's wedding. It was the Dude's first time there. I learned about Craft Hotel through Remodelista and booked one night there so I could see all the design goodness it boasted. It was the first time I ever stayed at a boutique hotel.

I love the shelving behind the bed and the storage baskets underneath.

The terrace was probably my favourite feature in the hotel. The rustic furniture was to die for. Plus it offered great views of the city.

I wished I had more time to lounge about while visiting.

The courtyard was also lovely. The checkerboard tile floor really gave the space a nice graphic punch. The bikes were available for guests to use.

Craft Hotel is in Palermo Viejo, which is where the young hip people of Buenos Aires like to go to shop, eat, and be merry.

HACKING A SUNBURST MIRROR

Earlier in the summer I found a dusty old sunburst clock at an estate sale. I grabbed it so that I could transform it to the sunburst mirror I always wanted. It was the best $2 I ever spent at an estate sale.

Here's the original sunburst clock.

I couldn't wait to take off the ugly clock face. But when I dismantled it I ran into a couple problems.

Originally I thought I was going take off the hands of the clock and the little knob that holds them and simply glue a mirror on top of the clock face. But when I unscrewed the hands, the clock and the battery pack behind it all came loose as well. This called for a Plan B. How was I going to glue the mirror onto the space where the clock used to be? Additionally, how was I going to hang up this thing since the hook for hanging the clock was attached to the battery pack?

For the mirror solution, I first cut a few pieces of craft foam into circles. I ended up only needing to glue two of them together to fill in the space in the centre. 

For the hanging solution, I used some picture hanging wire I had on hand and tied it to the back like so.

Then I glued on top of the foam circles the mirror I hacked together using a 7 in. round mirror and a 7 in. wooden embroidery hoop that I painted gold. And voila!

It's everything I hoped it would be.

There are lots of instructions out there for how to make a sunburst mirror from scratch. This one and this one are two pretty good tutorials.

This sunburst mirror has one little imperfection. Bonus points to the first one who can point it out.