On My First Wall Hanging

I have lived in my studio for about 4 months now and I have yet to hang anything on the walls.  I am not sure why, just nothing seemed to be good enough . . .

until I found this online, available for purchase

How could an Urban Planner (to-be) with an interest in neighborhood and community development pass this one up?

On What I Will Watch When I Get Around to it

When I was half listening to last night's lecture, I used the other half of my attention to compile a list of "classic" movies that I have yet to see or that I have seen when I was far too young for them to resonate properly.  Of course, this list is tailored to my tastes (hence no Sci-fi titles and a few related to Paris have made the cut).  This list is by no means exhaustive, please feel free to add-on! This is what I currently have on the Classic Movie Bucket List:

On What I Vow

With the passing of the summer to darker, more dramatic, gloomier days (even in LA), I have made a promise to myself. I will take a daily walk.  I know this sounds like something my elders would do, but I think of my walks as meditation.  Each and every day, despite the weather, what I have on my plate, and the physical activity that I have already mustered, I will walk.  I will put away my computer and my Iphone and go out into the city and just walk around. 
What's your daily promise to yourself?

On Sunday Traditions

Since I don't own a television my Sundays are not given over to the NFL.  Instead of spending the last day of the weekend clapping at the TV (it is more than fine if you do, friends, I know you are out there) I have some Sunday practices that I find myself revisiting. Some of my Sunday habits include:

French pressed coffee & Fresh squeezed OJ

The New York Times

The Larchmont Village Farmers' Market

Evening Yoga 

Salad, Gourmet Pizza, & Wine for Dinner 

 (lately I have been going to Stella Rosa over on the Westside)

What do you typically do with your Sunday? Are you a creature of habit like me? 

Oh and I eat dessert. I like Sunday evening dessert. Usually I will have a cookie. I like cookies. 

Happy Sunday!

On the Importance of Shoes

My running shoes got me up and out this morning.  Not my playlist (even though it is currently really solid with a nice mix of Ratatat, David Guetta's latest, Bonobo, and Radiohead) could do a superior job at motivating me to move.  My current runners are light, colorful, and irresistible.  Besides the fact that I love running, I run so that I can show off these sneaks.  

On NYFW

New York Fashion Week has officially drawn to a close. Thanks to the NYTimes and my browsing of several blogs, I got to witness my fair share of the highlights from the runway.  In short, color. Some of my favorite looks:

Oscar De La Renta

Decus Nobilis

Jenny Packham

Jill Stuart

It is my dream to return home for Fashion Week. Someday, someday. Front row at Marc Jacobs? Someday, someday?

On What I Do When I Miss Paris

When I miss Paris so much it hurts . . . . 
I dial a friend on my portable, pop on my moto, dab on some rouge à lèvres and hightail it to Le Figaro before happy hour ends! This bistrot-café is straight out of gai Pareeeeeee.  Le Fig's opulent simplicity (which is totally ironic, I know) perfectly emulates the sentiments of Paris.  Tables spill onto the street. From the looks of the clientele you cannot tell if it is time for an espresso and a croissant with a dose of the morning news (printed of course, the French actually read print), or time for an apéritif and a cigarette.  Either way, Paris je t'aime. 

On Ten Years

The current NYMag is astonishing.  I would highly recommend reading it whether or not you have any connection to The City. My copy (though less than a week old) is already tattered.  Within the double issue, a dialogue about September 11th unfolds following the alphabet A-Z. In the entries, no arguments are made about who, where, what, or why. No conclusions are drawn. From Abbottabad to Blue to Dragnets to Good-bye to Paper to Quiet, the accounts of the days leading up to and the days following 9/11 are dynamic, shocking, saddening, and uncannily real. Please read. 

On Curling Up

I feel lousy. It is Friday evening and I am rocking a fever and a scratchy throat. Go me! I wish you all a wonderful weekend.  I am in for the night.  Think of me when you are out rocking skinny jeans and some pumps (what my healthy self would be wearing if she were feeling 100%).  I will be home in a tank and some undies nursing myself back to wellness with candles, opera music, and tea. A little hiccup in my agenda will not kill me, as the old adage goes, it will just make me stronger. Until. 

If only I looked like this when I was sick!

On the Fall Essentials

This (long) weekend I am finally finding time to flip through the September Issue of Vogue.  I am delighted to find an emphasis on classicism.  The best looks for the Fall seem to be bolder, newer versions of something tradition and familiar. 


800+ pages of Vogue later, I have come up with my own list of Fall essentials:

Skinny black jeans

Cream & Burgundy Striped Scarf

Chanel's Big Apple Red Lipstick

A fitted leather jacket for scooting safely to and from campus

Chambray button-down

Black and white striped long sleeve 

Heeled Oxfords the ultimate school shoe

On My Work in Progress

I always have an on-going art project, but this one in particular has got to be my favorite.  I call it my Inspiration Wall.  It is a corner of my house that I devote entirely to images, fabrics, cut-outs, cards, trinkets, and photos that inspire me, comfort me, remind me of home, make me laugh, invoke wanderlust, and embody beauty.  My desk sits beneath my current Inspiration Wall.  I have created more nail holes and used more adhesives than any landlord should ever have to deal with, but I need a space on which to create that has no do's or don'ts.  This space has become my own.