Good Morning!

My pillow view :)

You're looking gorgeous today, New York.

The Holidays at Home

I was lucky enough to get to go home for a couple of days for Christmas. I'll let the pictures do the talking . . .

What I Learned Today . . .

Excellent f-cking revenge on national TV. (CDAN)

Yay!! More info and spoilers about Oncce Upon a Time!!! (EW)

I found a place where I can tackle screen printing on the cheap! Because there ain't no room in my house for it. (ABC No Rio)

This is SO perfect for me. My heart does live in NY and CA. I like to wear my heart on my sleeve! (Wildfox)

I love this mermaid and dolphin candle lantern. (Etsy - Earthsteps)

I equally love this mermaid necklace. (Etsy - ValleyGirlDesigns)

Checked out my current favorite book's author/blog/reading guide. (Sarah Jio)

Lauren took great and fun holiday photos of her and Kyle's home. I especially enjoy the antlers on the KitchenAid. (Chezerbey)

Obsession: Wildfox Bicoastal Gidget Sweatshirt

Whenever I go back home to Encinitas, I have a couple of stores I HAVE to stop by. Luckily, It's a Luv Thing and Hansen's are next door to each other. The day before Christmas I became obsessed with this sweatshirt:

It was made for me. Living and loving life in NYC but will always be a Cali girl at heart.

Alas, it is a little out of my price range at $90 a pop. The sales person made a couple of good points: made in the USA, unbelievably soft and perfect for me.

UPDATE: 1/4/12 Am still obsessed with this sweatshirt. It's retails $108 online. . . I just can't bring myself to do it :(.

It's Starting to Feel Like Christmas!

I didn't get a tree last year which really bummed me out. I didn't get to hang my ornaments last year :(. I was absolutely getting a tree this year. Better late than never!

Photo courtsey of Ms. Emily Olson - thanks Emma!

Now, it's starting to feel a whole lot like Christmas. Just add tree.

Obsession: Umbra

It all started with this:

I'm considering buy these because it'll match what started my obsession:

I desperately need an over the door rack with hooks for my bathroom to hang all of my towels. I love this:

But maybe in white instead. It'll look better on my door and it won't clash with brown, light blue and light green color scheme I have going on.

If I ever have a real bathtub again, I would definitely get a lot of use out of this It's on sale for $29,99!:

I've been trying to figure out what to put on my wall that my bed is against. I don't want to put any more art up because a) I already have a lot up and b) I need some white space to make my room feel not so tiny. I thought about shelves but I think it'd look awkward. I thought about a large mirror, I love mirrors, but it would overwhelm my room. Then I came across these:

I LOVE sparrows, so much that I have a tattoo of one. So my initial reaction was to get these. Plus my wall is longer than taller, so I could really spread them out. But then I saw these:

I like the play on the concept of mirrors and they would still look cool in a jagged line. I haven't decided yet. I'll keep mulling it over until I know for sure that's what I want to do.
If I had a fish (Bandit would LOVE that), it would live here:

This is a great and inexpensive gift:

I love to hang this on the wall in my living room:

Feeling At Home

I have a hard time feeling at home until things are really organized and everything has its place. Even more so until things are decorated and coordinated. Might be one of the many reasons why I didn't feel fully at home at my old place.

Usually this leads me to antsy and buy things that don't really fit well in my home/bedroom because I'm so anxious to have everything perfect. I did this at my condo in Seattle. I'm not very patient sometimes. So in my spare time I've been looking on IKEA/Target/Bed, Bath and Beyond to figure what is the best and most perfect dresser for me.

I thought it would be this:

But in person the drawers weren't very deep which I desperately need because I have a lot of clothes and a teeny, tiny Manhattan apartment. Then much to my surprise because I'm strictly a black wood furniture kind of girl and I like my furniture to match, I decided on this:

I don't even like white furniture. I loved the white wicked furniture I had when I was kid at my house I grew up in. But ya know, I decided on black wood furniture a few years ago. Probably because I love the color black. Anyhow, I'm shocked about how much I LOVE it. It's the perfect depth - on two counts a) the space I decided for it in my room and b) the drawers give me plenty room for all of my clothes, lightweight, sturdy for IKEA furniture and the biggest surprise - I LOVE the white. I thought it would just blend in with my white walls and it kind of does but well. I like it so much that when the time comes I might get the matching set:

I'm hoping that after I finally wash all of my piles of laundry, which is never ending, and get rid of some of my clothes that they might all fit in the first dresser but if not another IKEA trip to Brooklyn will be in my future.

This is Fantastic

This photograph is one of the most fantastic (as in imaginative and of fantasy not as in "THAT'S SO GREAT") images I have ever seen. It reminds of something that could occur in one of my favorite books like Stardust or The Night Circus. A surreal idea captured.

I would love to capture a cloud.

I found this via Dooce and I would love to buy this and the price is right (only $25!) but I have too much shit already that I need to get rid of and not enough space for it because I live in Manhattan I am a babe on a budget these days.  

Making My Bedroom Homey and Organized

I talked about what Rebecca and I bought to make the house homey but I forget to mention what I bought for my room. I already have this:

Which I have turned horizontal since the space in my room is longer, not taller. And five of these drawers to keep my messes hidden:

In keeping with my favorite kind of furniture, black wood, I finally got a desk:

A steal at $20! I've wanted a proper desk for years. Usually they end up as another place for me to stack stuff as opposed to using it as a desk.

Then Rebecca suggested getting two of these:

At $25 a pop it's a cheap way to stack and organize my clothes, shoes, DVDs, books and my knick knacks. Hopefully they'll work out well! I'll see in a couple of weeks.

Home Decor = Homey

For the most part Rebecca, Emma and I are settled into our new place. But me being me I won't feel like it's home, home, until the place is fully decorated. Our color scheme has been set up by these pieces:

This is also known as the BEST rug at Ikea EVER - cheap and gorgeous - Erica and Johnny have it too.

Rebecca and I talked about an accent color and we both thought red would be a nice touch. I spent the last couple of weeks looking for a red vase. I really wanted this one:

But Missoni for Target has pretty much sold out online but I got this one instead:

I think it will look beautiful in our new home! I can wait to get some flowers to put it in. I'm also excited because I ordered this lamp for my room:

My current lamp has great shelves but I want that extra room to move my desk a little away from my bed. It'll be a nice donation to our living room AND it's red!:

I couldn't find a good size image in red - the top lantern is a deep red

Slowly but surely we making our place a home. Now we just need a tv and a bookcase to put it on.

New Home in HK (Hell's Kitchen)

This is the view from my new home and rooftop!

This is a night time view of the city :):

My Beach, My Love