Preparing for 2014

Are you ready?.. I am very excited to unvail my new "Herb Ritts" or "Garden" wall! So many projects and creative ideas!

Also put an extra super on the bee's

Merry Christmas with Mom and Dad

 Great to have Mom and Dad come out for a break from the cold and spend some time in Sunny LA :-)

there you go Mom & Dad ... your favorite view to just sit and watch..... mine too:-)

Love these two image I got on our Christmas day walk...

...short sleeve shirts ... now thats just crazy!

Fabric inspiration Pillows

Well aren't I crafty! 
You might remember that this is the African Fabric I brought back from Paris and had a shirt made .... well It was a large piece of Fabric and I was so inspired by the border....the printing, dying and design I wanted to use it in someway ...So I made pillows

Now don't look too close... I am no expert seamstress but I have been known to make a couple of garments back in the day
I couldn't be happier and they are a so comfortable and beautiful

I guess if I wear my shirt to bed I might need sea sick pills!

On Display at Marie Turnor :-)

Very Happy to have one of my Eiffel tower prints hanging in the office at Marie Turnor DTLA
Stylish brands have Creative offices which deserve inspiring images 

go visit
http://shop.marieturnor.com

Happy Autum

So Gorgeous here in Georgia for Autumn Hope you are enjoying your change of seasons

Shame - Slow Knights / Edward Paul Quist

Living for this song at the moment and Such a cool video

thanks Roman!

DTLA Art Walk

Where do I even begin... I'm in shock to see DTLA like this .... Its amazing! 

I remember downtown LA in the 80's. (said with your best Grandpa voice)

Art Walk is an incredible event every second thursday of the month. There is so much life, creativity and inspiration downtown and Art walk just displays that beautifully! LA is such an extraordinary place in such a unique position, while downtown is old and has amazing architecture, history and beauty but its culture and character seems to still be developing.

I posted this now to encourage you to go if you can the next DTLA Art Walk is Sept.12th, Check it out with great Art and FOOD TRUCKS 

Its a great time!

Mumbai Science - Models

Can you think of a better song to navigate the street of NYC ...It makes everywhere a Catwalk!!!
Just add your name

The Parish Trust

Beautiful  Beautiful Beautiful 

The Parish Trust diligently collect and curate antiques from the dead and dying industries. Perusing basements, boxes and personal stashes for the odd, obsolete and unusual. Hand picking artists from coast to coast to collaborate and showcasing it all in their gussied up little bunker.

Proprietors: Rod Hipskind & Kelly Ishikawa.... well DUH! No wonder its such a BEautiful Place

Rod is a stylist who I've had the pleasure of working with! 

He definitely understand  how to hook my eye as a photographer:-) 

Really great finds and in such a beautiful interiour in San Francisco 

and they have Warby Parker!

The Mill

Yes, San Francisco, Thank you for making what seems plain and ordinary, the MOST WONDERFUL THING EVER! 

The Mill, on divisadero street in San Francisco serves up gourmet toast. Yes Toast, (well and coffee) before you say anything ...It is the most amazing toast you can have! 
It is a joint venture between Josey Baker Bread and Four Barrel Coffee and it is a great place to start the day or take a mid-day break and relax.

Shirts

I am overjoyed with how these shirts turned out. 

These are some of the African Fabrics I brought back from Paris,Thank you to my friend Raphaël.

 I thought to use them for inspiration , back-rounds and then I thought.....what about shirts:-) 

Actually, in Paris I realized how monochromatic everything is. Beautiful yes, but one day in the gray skies,

 the stone buildings and everyone dressed in black and gray, a door opened and the beautiful African woman 

wrapped in colorful fabrics smiled as she stepped out onto the street. You couldn't help but be happy to see her radiated  down the street, like a beautiful ray of sun in the fog of gray. 

I was directed to an amazing tailor in San Moreno, Bill Cairo Custom Tailors.

I  gave the details of what I imagined for the shirts and was

blown away by the expertise and detail given.  

From the cut of the pattern and the detail in sewing, they are really works of art. 

Now I  smile every time I see them ... even just hanging in the closet.

Right Time, Right Place ...Right People...

Amazing right? Thanks to my Friend Raphaël, who saw and brought to my attention... I am appearing with André Léon Talley on Vanity fair's web site

...I didn't make print .. but still cool!

This is from my post "Outside Alexander McQueen Prêt à porter saison Automne Hiver 2013/2014"
Its so funny I maneuvered myself to a opening in the crowd and never thinking I would be photographed ...It was just me and  André  

I think I identified the photographer from my pictures...in a green jacket :-)

Bäco Mercat

Bäco Mercat is the home of the “bäco,” the signature flatbread sandwich that was developed by chef Josef Centeno.Located in the historic Old Bank district in downtown Los Angeles, Bäco Mercat is a convivial neighborhood spot that also offers a focused liquor program with hand-picked spirits, beers and wines from around the world. 

DTLA! My Favorite, The Fava Fritter!!!! also Zaatar (!!!) with bäco's puffy bread

and Radish salad and stuffed squash blossom. 

Better Homes & Gardens September 2013 Stylemaker Issue, Raili Clasen "Rustic Revival"

Really fun and beautiful shoot with Paige Porter, Michael Walters and Raili Clasen

Better Homes And Gardens out Now 

and

 Raili Clasen Design 

also

 StoryPorter

:-)

The Magician (Official) ..... Magic Tape Four

Kinda Living for this Magic tape 4, Giving me a bounce optimistic step to my work out
I know its 2 years old but it came up on my ipod and I am really enjoying again There are also great new mixes too another fav is Magic Tape 32 and 28

check it out 

Peach Dessert

I am loving this Peach dessert I made , inspired by a friends idea/recipe.

1/2 a cup of soaked (over night) raw cashews
1 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon almond coconut milk or soy milk
2 large peaches

1 tablespoon maple syrup

juice of 1/2 of a medium sized lemon

First soak raw unsalted cashews in water overnight,(I enjoy the organic raw cashews from Sunfoods).
Next take 1/2 cup of the soaked cashews, the water, almond or soy milk and maple syrup (from Dean at Maple tree farm ,of course) and puree in a good blender or food processor until smooth (you can add small amounts water or almond /soy to help smooth out the nut cream) 
Then cut the peaches and add to the mix along with the lemon juice and blend until smooth puree
Pour mixture into a freezer safe baking dish and put in the freezer

after a couple of hours take a fork and break up the mixture (similar to a granita or sorbet) scraping across the top, repeat this as often as you like or need until mixture is light and icy

then serve it up!!! I added some mint from the garden but you could top it however you feel

It light and refreshing dessert for Summer!

thanks Taaj!

THANK YOU, PHENOMENA by SYNAPSON @ SOCIAL CLUB PARIS

Leave it to Paris, in fact one of my favorite clubs in paris for interesting, innovative  grooves, Social Club, to give me something interesting and different to listen to today

check it out interesting ambiences

Let's Lunch DTLA, Bottega Louie

One of my favorite and a very well known restaurant downtown Los Angeles (DTLA), Bottega Louie 

Oh my goodness the food, and the atmosphere are remarkable!

Fresh Bread,egg with asparagus, cherry tomato burrata, portobello fries, and brussel sprouts with pistachio

but don't forget dessert

Amazing flavors of macaroon that make me miss Ladurée in Paris 
With a beautiful bar to hang out at and amazing baked goods and treats, plus to-go counter with prepared items
At night and weekends it is really "the place to be" DTLA 
Seriously,If you haven't been.....Just GO!
  Bottega Louie!

check out their website and Facebook blog

http://www.bottegalouie.com/main.html
or
https://www.facebook.com/BottegaLouie

Cilantro Hummus Summertime Favorite.... Easy!

I have really been enjoying the produce of the garden with Hummus this year! With all the green beans , tomatoes and cucumber its been such a perfect acompanyment. A friend gave me a great idea for my hummus... add a big hand full of cilantro and a hand full of spinach ... It turns it a beautiful green and the flavor is delicate and delicious. Now you can use the recipe I tested in my "New Years 2011 post" ...remember?  or 

This amended version I have been making this summer

1  (16oz)   can organic ready to eat garbanzo beans (and liquid)

1    cloves garlic

 juice of one fresh medium lemon

¼     cup tahini

 ¼cup olive oil, plus extra for garnish

1      teaspoon ground cumin

½      teaspoon salt (to taste)

       1 large handful of of Cilantro

and one medium handful of Spinach


Place beans, garlic, lemon juice, tahini,  ¼ cup of the olive oil, cilantro, spinach, cumin and salt in a food processor or blender (good Blender works best for me).
 Add liquid from the canned beans and process to a smooth consistency, about 2 minute.

And dig in with any fresh vegtables.. above I have lightly steamed green beans from the garden and a variety of tomatoes from the  garden and these  Crunchmaster Multi-Seed Crackers , they serve them on Virgin America Airlines and I just LOVE them...and just by chance they are gluten free

Figs Already!!!

I can't believe it, Went outside and noticed all these figs on the tree already !!!

 Iced Coffee and fresh figs and another look thru these French magazines 

Divine!!  

EggPlant Pasta :-)

Cherry tomatoes and eggplant and tiny globe basil from the garden

I Was There ..... Where Were You?

Cannot get enough of this song and It really emphasizes what I am thinking these days about showing up and actually trying and doing things!

Beauty Shoot with Mr Marvel-ous

Fabulous day playing with David Marvel, Make-up and Model, Lessie from ClickLA

Garden Confessions

This year the garden felt so full with promise and I really had big ideas about it in my head but that didn't come true. However it taught me a great lesson about gardening and life...not to mention it reminded me of that fav joke.... Wanna make God Laugh... tell him your plans:-) 
Give yourself credit for getting out there and trying. Life is about doing and learning.

To start it was very devastating to learn that the bee hive had been infiltrated by a Hostel Queen (LOL) and the hive had turned aggressive. I learned it can happen when you bring your bee's in from another area and the hive is not well established or adjusted to the new regional accommodations. One option is to go in and kill the Hostel Queen and replace her with a pregnant more docile Queen but unfortunately with my work schedule I exceeded that option and had to exterminate the hive :-( It was really sad... more so than I though it would be. However, I do have 2 local docile hive's awaiting delivery to me so hopefully we will be back in business soon. 

Its amazing the affect of losing the hive had on all my plants and flower. Its really draws light to the importance of  every link in the chain and I see why people are fighting so hard for Bee's. Whatever your feeling about bee's, they are such gigantic part of our food chain

Next The tomatoes, squash and zucchini failed horribly, I dreamed for so many exotic varieties of tomatoes and squash but no way. I leared that I was planting the tomatoes in the same place each year and although we amended, it was not enough nutrients for the tomatoes and squash to be strong. Along with a spider mite invasion that knocked them out cold.I will try to grow some plants this winter to help the soil and next year grow the tomatoes in different areas or barrels

While I was sad about this I was forgetting to look at what was doing well, Its all about your attitude and perspective, and suddenly I realized how productive the garden was for me and I became over joyed 

I ended up pulling out all of the plants that didn't do well and replaced them with different things and its been great.

You can't be so stubborn in your mind determind to get what you think you want but instead go with the flow adapt change and appreciate what you have and what is good

Below are some of the great thing I am getting 

These white cucumbers  which are amazing ,I have never had anything like them Green beans are insane, Egg plant and these Fabulous Cherry tomatoes Kelly's Breakfast, White current,and Green Grape and herbs are abundant Basil Cilantro Parsly thyme and even some peppers but I am most excited to have some melons coming ...Every year I try them and they do bad (mainly because everything else around them does good and cuts out their sun)

Whatever the case I still encourage anyone to just start growing something ...If you are successful , Amazing, if not be open and learn what might have been going on and have the courage to keep trying.

Happy Bastille Day

Happy Birthday Me :-)

Some things I am think about today 

Its been an interesting year and I can't help but reflect a little on my birthday
I am so truly grateful for the people in my life, they have "shown up" helped me , supported, inspired and shared with me.
 It's such a rare and beautiful thing that I appreciate!
I realize more and more that our life/reality is what we make up in our head and that influences what and how we see the world. 
God is soooooo much bigger than any thoughts or ideas, I am a tiny special piece of the puzzle, holding onto that one specific dream God intended
 I like this joke... "Wanna make God Laugh ...Tell God your plans!":-)
Its such an amazing thing for me to realize we are made up from dreams of the past, building the dreams of the future.

Being imperfect is our most perfect/beautiful human characteristic, the greatest achievement is to try, do and be
Quote,
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." 

Excerpt from the speech "Citizenship In A Republic" by Theodore Roosevelt

 delivered at the Sorbonne, in Paris, France on 23 April, 1910 

Life is Precious and a gift

You mean more to others that you could ever know or understand


Ladys and Gentlemen some songs and videos on my mind... :-)

Tomorrow way too far away, 
And we can't get back yesterday
But we young right now, 
We got right now
So get up right now, 
Cause all we got is Right Now

20:44min Miles "Something I read someplace, I always believed , you know when your young and beautiful its an accident of nature, but when your beautiful older you've earned it , That you created yourself"

This goes with something my friend Jon Keoni ,a hairdresser, used to say "Gray is a color you have to earn..... It doesn't just come out of a bottle"


We Share the Moon, We Share the StarsWhen the rain falls, it falls in allIn the Right Place at the Right TimeYou Can See the Rainbow Being Defined

Is it Yours, Is it Mine, Is it Ours to DivideIt's Not Yours, It's Not Mine, It Belongs to Us... Sunset Sunrise
I can find right now but there is a story I remember from a book of stories "The Thing Around Your Neck" Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie or  "These Things Fall Apart" Chinua Achebe about an old tale of how ancient people believed Heaven and Earth were much closer than we think now and a saying Never to raise your weapon to swift or high for fear of cutting God. Now science and knowledge has explained the physical idea of Heaven farther away but I enjoy the romantic notion that it is so close, and to be mindful of your actions  
Well I dreamed there was an islandThat rose up from the sea.And everybody on the islandWas somebody from TV.And there was a beautiful viewBut nobody could see.Cause everybody on the islandWas screaming: Look ot me! Look at me!Look at me! Look at me!ParadiseIs exactly likeWhere you are right nowOnly much muchBetter.
This always makes me laugh out loud 20:45 min... well I love this WHOLE episode

And I love Mary Mary and this song is good motivation to me

What are you afraid of?

Don't you know what you're made of?
One of God's greatest creations
Take this invitation now

Get Up'
Cause you can't stop
Get Up
Got a lot to do
24 hoursAlmost gone
Get Up
Don't sit there
Get Up
If you wanna get there
Clocks don't stop
and
Time won't wait

ok, I can go on and on but that's enough deep thoughts for the year lets just get back to doing stuff and junk :-)