Our House Tour on Apartment Therapy

Feb 11, 2018

Hi There,

During the last few years we have done quite a lot of work to our house. I tried to photograph how beautiful everything turned out but I couldn’t capture it the way a professional could. I visited my friend Samantha’s lovely house and she told me her friend Marisa Vitale was a photographer and I should reach out to her. I was hoping to hire Marisa to photograph our house (since we are leaving it for a year) when she said she wanted to shoot it for Apartment Therapy!! I have been a fan of AT for years but I never thought our house was sophisticated enough to be featured. We had to fill out a questionnaire and one of the questions was “How do you describe your design style?” This was the hardest for me to answer because all that came to mind is “This is the home of a thirteen year old girl after she saw Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette!” I somehow managed to come up with a more adult answer but I cannot grasp how far we have come with this little house of ours. I went through phases of loving our house, completely hating it (mostly due to horrible neighbors across the street and bad water pressure) and then falling head over heels in love again. The bright and colorful way Marisa captured our home makes me so happy. I wish I could share all 206 photos with you because they are all my favorites but I will narrow them down best I can. Thank you Sam for connecting me with Marisa! Thank you Marisa for being so kind, talented and fun to hang with. Thank you Apartment Therapy for showcasing all our hard work and sacrifice to the world. I am honored to have our home among many other interiors I admire. Yay, here is our 1923 California bungalow home…

These are some of the outtakes of our family photos. How am I wearing heels and Antz is still taller than me? This one is my fave of the bunch.

Apartment Therapy used this one, which has my signature look at the sky weird thing I do and Liv almost has her eyes closed. It definitely represents us best.

In the living room there was much debate over which slipcover to put on the couch. We both agreed the blue slipcover was too much color and the white would make the pillows and our throw pop.

Our lovely Rifle & Paper Co Marie Antoinette portrait never gets shown because I rarely photograph that part of the room.

Physiognomy by Mark Seliger was one of the first “grown up” books I ever purchased about 12 years ago. I finally have cool coffee table books displayed on my coffee table!

I’m super stoked about our new lady llama! Antz first saw her at Dotter on York Ave and I knew she would be perfect for an empty space on our wall. Everything came together perfectly.

We had the prints made from Artifact Uprising.

Don’t you think llamas are the new elephants?

It’s hard to show a good shelfie because the couch is in the way but at least you can see our new plant from Folia Collective. We were in Pasadena one night getting ice cream when we found this cute, tiny plant shop. I almost didn’t go in because it look terribly expensive but I was surprised. The most expensive plant in the store was $38! We got called out in the comments of our house tour for the sad looking fiddle fig on our porch but little do they know how long we lived with zero plants in our house.

I wish I took photos inside but the shop is super tiny and there were so many customers.

We bought seven new plants for the house and guess what guys? They are still green and alive months later!!

Now let’s talk about that gorgeous bouquet! I knew I wanted something extra special for that vase. It’s very wide so I knew it had to be substantial. I have always admired IrisBarryBlooms on Instagram so this was the perfect occasion to have something customized for our home. My only request was very colorful and fun, and Michelle is the sweetest. She exceeded my expectations and really nailed our color palette. Thank you so much for creating this showstopper! Check out her website here.

That’s right, we have a dining room, library, music room and office all in this one space! #smallhousesolutions Olivia’s piano teacher (our awesome next door neighbor Lisa) uses cute stickers to help Liv remember her finger placement.

And just to the right, we have our bar. Our old bar was a clunky DIY. I’m telling you, house design is mostly trial and error. We lived with the same furniture for so long, we had no idea we could find something functional, affordable and pretty.

This is the same space full of Earthy tones back in 2009! Why were sticks in a vase a trend?

Now into the kitchen. I love that after five years it still looks modern and fresh. We haven’t changed much in there except a new set of pots and pans I got on sale for Christmas. In the future, I may change out the white subway tile backsplash into something more colorful.

If I could have one dream item, I would love a La Chanche range in Rose Quartz. They are French and so fancy I would be embarrassed to cook my Top Ramen noodles on it. Sadly, they cost as much as a small car.

New plant and macramé holder alert!

I don’t think I have shown our hallway/art gallery on my blog before. I have no idea how to photograph such a narrow and dark space but Marisa used her tripod and got it all.

I am super sad we aren’t taking any of his artwork to Paris with us. However, they are too big to pack and I wouldn’t want to risk them getting damaged in our luggage. I already loaned the giant portrait of Olivia to my Mom to keep at her house (I hope I get it back!)

Did I mention we had our bedroom painted during the October break? Antz and I were going to paint it ourselves but laziness and procrastination set in so we hired FIVE dudes to paint this little room! Really, we hired one handyman but he showed up with all these guys. Oh! Next time a dude at the paint store tries to sell you the fancy “one coat” premium paint, don’t fall for it. We were told one gallon would cover the green and the trim in this room but ended having to buy 4 gallons (which meant 3 more trips to the hardware store and $200 more dollars). As fun and colorful as the old bedroom looked, I think it made the space feel cluttered and I wanted to create a more streamlined look for the small space.

It took me awhile to adjust to the all-white room. I love white, it’s my favorite color to wear but it felt so cold and sterile before we added the artwork and accessories. I wish we had the budget for a new ceiling fan but we couldn’t find anything we liked and we didn’t want to pay an electrician.

I have never connected with an artist (other than Antz) that gets me like Carissa Potter Carlson. I have been super stressed about our move to Paris that this Things Will Work Out print has been my daily mantra.

Those striped brogues have been in my closet for months because they are so pretty I don’t dare wear them outside. Well, last week I finally gave in and wore them to our visa appointment for good luck. I’ll let you know how it went in my next post!

Liv’s room was the only room we only needed to straightening up. Once a month I attempt to get rid of stuff she has outgrown or no longer plays with (she’s currently in a Nintendo Switch and iPad phase) however, she swears she still plays with everything so I haven’t made much progress. Next week she is going to a sleepover and most of her toys are going into storage to make room for whoever ends up in our house.

I don’t think I’ll ever take down her baby mobile her Dad made before she was born.

I am grateful that I have these photos to remember her little girl room before her next tween remodel. I’m curious to what color she’ll choose next. I’m kinda over the pink.

Lastly our newly renovated bathroom. The least loved room in the house is now the most loved. I can’t stop staring at this stunning artwork Antz painted for me while we were visiting my Mom. I am the luckiest girl in the world to be married to this talented guy!

I bought that basket from Anthropologie to use as a hamper for our wet towels but Antz said it would make a nice planter for our new guy. He fit in perfectly.

I love her so much!!

So that’s our house tour. I am kicking myself because we spent all day with lovely Marisa and the only photo I took of her was while she was working. Marisa, thank you so much! I owe you a big hug and all our gratitude.

SaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSave

Au revoir!

Infinity Mirrors by Yayoi Kusama at The Broad

Jan 19, 2018

On New Year’s day we started 2018 in the most colorful way possible. Yayoi Kusama is one of my favorite artists because she has a wig made of yarn. She is also a brilliant and weird lady that I adore. I’ve previously tried four times to get into her Infinity Mirrors exhibit unsuccessfully but finally, we got in and I was so stressed about the 45 second time frame, I only managed to take blurry photos. I don’t know how other people take such lovely photos because when you get in the lights begin to blink so timing the perfect shot isn’t easy.

This time was no different. We had about 30 seconds for each exhibit which gave me anxiety! My favorite art piece (the yellow pumpkin room) did not allow cell phones but oddly, I have seen many people posting photos on Instagram. I know the artist wants us to be in the moment and not worry about taking selfies but if I don’t have a photo, did it even happen?

This is my favorite photo of Antz

This room started off white and visitors are given dot stickers to add to the room. We were there on the very last day so we were given unlimited stickers. It was definitely Liv’s favorite room.

Find the bike

These cuties

This is Noemie. She was Liv’s preschool French teacher and she is the reason Olivia speaks French with a native accent. I am forever grateful to this woman.

As we were leaving Olivia asked for Van Leeuwen ice cream. They seem to always be parked outside the Broad.

A Dream is a wish your heart makes

Aug 27, 2017

If you have come into contact with me for the past two years then you may already know my life dream is to move to France for a year. I think I have told our mailman, everyone at Liv’s French school and even total strangers who humor me with a smile while I crazily go on and on about it. I’ve always dreamed of living abroad. I have been researching, prepping and planning for this move but not exactly sure how to make it possible.

Well, I got my wish…

Our family is moving to Paris, FRANCE!!!

Antz asked me what I wanted for my 40th birthday and I said, I would like for you to ask again if you can work abroad. His boss didn’t think it would work a year ago but we couldn’t give up on this dream. Antz and I put together a new proposal and we waited a year. In hindsight, as devastating as that initial NO was, it only motivated me more. We took that year to make much needed renovations to our house and even took a lovely unexpected trip to Iceland. Antz connected with the right people at work, submitted his proposal and his boss gave him the green light! I have been waiting in agony for months having to hold in this secret, waiting to get everything in order. I am elated to finally be able to share our great news. It still doesn’t feel real. I have been wanting this for so long that I haven’t even processed that this is finally happening. When Antz told me his boss agreed, I cried with joy. I could not have made this happen without his job being onboard so I am so grateful that he was able to negotiate this move. We have a lot of preparations ahead of us but I am confident I will have everything aligned.

I posted this inspiration on my Instagram the day Antz asked his boss to work abroad, exactly one year until we leave! We are planning to swap with a lovely French family during our time abroad. I will post about how we are house swapping soon.

The trickiest part will be getting our long stay visas (carte de sejour). We have to fill out tons of paperwork, make copies of everything, and translate our paperwork into French. I have heard that French bureaucracy is a nightmare so we are hiring a consultant to assist us with the visas. I don’t want to have any surprises that will hold up the process. There’s also all the moving expenses: airfare *did you know a one-way ticket cost more than a roundtrip ticket?* and other logistics like renter’s insurance, international health insurance policy, opening a French bank account and our expenses in California. We may rent a storage unit for the stuff we aren’t bringing and we’ll need to get a post office box to forward all our mail. I have already written a post about the visa process and all of our moving expenses. We are planning to makeover our bathroom and paint our bedroom in the next few months. Hopefully, #45 won’t mess things up too badly for our swappers to get approved for their visas. Fingers crossed!

Antz wanted to set a realistic timeline to prepare ourselves for this move. So we gave ourselves year to get everything in place. I am so glad Olivia is young enough to adapt to this move away from her life in LA. She plans to stay in touch with her friends via Skype, writing letters and will check in for scheduled video chats with her class. I know she will benefit so much by traveling at a young age. I feel like this strengthens our choice of French immersion education.

During my surprise visit to Paris to see Aimee I fell in love with a school near Aimee’s rental. I took this photo and told her, I would love for Liv to go to that school. Turns out, the family we are swapping with lives a block from this school! I found a ballet school for her close by so she will continue her classes. I didn’t know it at the time but the neighborhood I was visiting Aimee was the same area we are moving to. I know those streets so well and feel very at home there. Antz will have the opportunity to visit art schools and industry events in Paris to seek new talent for his work team. He will also visit his company’s office in London. I am sure the change of environment will reenergize his creativity. I am excited to take French lessons while Liv is in school. There’s no doubt, Paris would be an inspiring place for all of us.

I often catch myself daydreaming about what our life over there would be like. I imagine us biking along the Seine, having a picnic in Jardin du Tuileries next to a gorgeous carousel with the Eiffel Tower in the distance, it’s too perfect for words. I am so excited to experience total immersion, to finally learn French so I can speak with Liv. I have no doubt Olivia will thrive in school because her French is so strong and she is great at making new friends. She is so excited to live in Paris. I can’t wait to live without being a slave to my car. I look forward to strolling along the cobblestone paved roads staring at the gorgeous Parisian architecture. I am thrilled to experience the weather. In LA, I get to wear my scarves and sweaters a few days out of the year so bring on the cold! I can’t wait to hop on a train and take weekend trips throughout Europe. There are so many cities in France I hope to visit. My goal is to travel to twenty European countries during our time abroad.

We will be leaving in March 2018. Only Six months away!! This was the most incredible birthday gift I could ever receive. Thank you so much Antz for making my dream come true!

I bought that amazing Things will work out print from People I’ve Loved.

SaveSave

Last day in Iceland

Jun 9, 2017

On our last day we stayed in Reykjavik. During the entire week we drove past the magnificent Hallgrímskirkja church everyday. We finally had time to check it out and of course, it was closed the day we went! Even without going inside, it was remarkable. The door alone was rad. The church took 41 years to be completed. Inside the church is a gorgeous pipe organ. I have a DVD with my favorite singer Björk singing in this church but I hope to one day see her perform there live.

So photographers and bloggers, what’s your secret of taking photos of landmarks without all the tourists? Do you ask them to move? Photoshop magic? I get so frustrated that I had to crop out the bottom of the church because tour buses full of folks kept showing up.

Ta-dah, no people (they are hiding behind Liv)

The church was built to mimic the basalt columns of Vik. It’s the second tallest building in Iceland.

This statue is Leif Eriksson who was the first European explorer to “discover” North America 500 hundred years before that other guy. Hot ass Viking dude!

Liv took this most perfect shot of Hallgrímskirkja with her camera and Antz took this epic shot of Liv holding her Instax photo.

It was time to say goodbye to our lovely cottage and we headed downtown for breakfast at The Laundromat Cafe.

How cute is it that Icelandic people engrave their names on their front doors. I would love to do that on our door.

We stopped at the innocuous tie mural right next to the Chuck Norris Grill. Iceland has a pretty rad street art scene, although they don’t have any Banksy or Invaders.

Most random thing we saw in Iceland.

I planned to have lunch at Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur (Iceland’s version of Pink’s) however we had hot dogs one night at another place and found them to be awful (they were served cold) so we passed on the steamed dogs. We happened to park nearby so I snapped a shot of this guy getting his breakfast.

The food was great but this hot chocolate was the best I have ever had!

You find the laundromat in the basement along with a room for kids to play and read in.

After breakfast we had just enough time to visit the Viking World museum before turning in our car rental and heading to the airport in Keflavik.

The museum was right next to the ocean and let me tell you it was freezing cold. I almost died in my dress just walked from the parking lot. Since the museum is on the way to the airport it’s not close to anything so we were the only patrons.

These were real authentic, very heavy Viking weapons.

I was the only brave one to walk into the Viking ship. I was sure it would collapse. I didn’t even know if I was allowed to walk on it because no one was in the place.

I hate to say it but the museum was a tourist trap. It was cool to see a real Viking ship but I was very annoyed that they didn’t have any Viking hats for sale (although I know they are cheesy) or more exhibits. We walked through in fifteen minutes and were like “Is that it?”

We spent forever in the airport gift shop looking for last minute souvenirs. I really wanted to buy Liv a Viking hat but for some odd reason, there were none anywhere. She settled on some Icelandic candy which she ate on the plane.

I have inadvertently started a mini flag collection. My flag from France is getting pretty frayed so I’ll need to replace it. I also have been collecting pins from the countries we visit. I forgot to buy one in Amsterdam though.

Once inside the airport, it was hot so we began to shed our heavy layers.

I know, I’m the world’s greatest videographer. This was one of my scariest take-offs because there was zero visibility. I am not afraid to fly but the take-off and landing do freak me out.

Liv and I watched one of her favorite movies on the plane, Spirited Away.

Then she happily slept the rest of the flight. I woke her up just as we were flying over the Grand Canyon.

Can you see the tiny moon?

I love flights that land before dark at LAX, we rarely land during the day. Overall, I would strongly encourage everyone to book a flight on Wow Airlines and go to Iceland. It was our least expensive trip abroad and was the most memorable.

Smell ya later Iceland! Takk.

SaveSave

The long road to Sólheimasandur

Jun 8, 2017

On our next to last day in Iceland we splurged and slept in an extra hour. The jet lag and long days were catching up with us. We were exhausted but I couldn’t leave Iceland without visiting the infamous abandoned DC- 3 plane in Sólheimasandur. This is the story behind the plane crash from Atlas Obscura.

The US Navy DC-3 superbus plane crash landed in 1973, and luckily everyone survived. While no one is positive exactly why the airplane went down, the suspected culprit was an empty fuel tank that the pilot may have tried to access. However, whatever the reason, the plane had to make an emergency landing on the beach on November 24th, 1973. As opposed to attempting to salvage the wreckage, it was simply left to rot in its isolated spot on an Icelandic beach.

While it is still in remarkably good condition given its 40 years out in the elements, a great deal of the fuselage has disappeared. According to one report, the entire tail section was stolen by a local farmer who sold it. However most of the cabin and the wing engines are still found on the site.

The walk out to the wreck is otherworldly – the landscape is harsh and the wind from the ocean can be intense. The plane has been stripped, but it’s still a dramatic site and fun to poke around. While it is pretty far off the beaten path, the picturesque wreckage still manages to attracts a steady stream of visitors, but they do little to take away from the decaying majesty of the remains.

Once again, I consulted my friend Christina and she noted that the hike to the plane wasn’t too difficult. I made sure we had extra batteries and packed my new camera tripod. We had to drive three hours south past the town of Vik. I was a little bummed to see so many cars parked on the side of the road at the location. The plane is not an official tourist attraction so most people know about it through word of mouth. In fact, there is no road or address so you have to rely on coordinates and follow the marked path. It was a cold and rainy morning but the sun was peeking out. We began the walk down a rocky path toward the plane with a large group of other people.

I have only seen the plane on Google Maps from an aerial view. It appears to be close to the sea on a black sandy beach about an inch from the road. I was so happy there was a marked path because there was absolutely nothing to guide you in the right direction.

After 45 minutes we were the only ones still walking the path, even though it was flat, all the people we started with were out of sight. We walked and walked and walked some more. I am naturally a slow walker and wearing heavy snow boots and carrying a heavy backpack wasn’t easy. Finally after about an hour and a half of walking in the bitter cold, we began to turn and head towards a small piece of metal in the middle of nowhere.

I was so happy to finally get to the plane but also annoyed that so many other people were there. I remembered why I scheduled our drive an hour earlier and was kicking myself for sleeping in. At first I decided to just take photos with other people in the background but I was not happy with the results.

So we waited, and waited and waited but for every person that left, two more showed up. Then it began to rain. And our camera didn’t like being wet so the lens stopped working. To make things even more awful, we couldn’t lock our camera to the brand new heavy ass tripod we lugged with us to Iceland! We wanted to be able to use our remote control. Antz was like didn’t you learn how to mount the camera when you bought the tripod? I did watch the saleswoman put her camera on it several times but she used a Canon, not a Nikon. Liv asked us when we were going to leave after fifteen minutes of being there. I began to cry. I felt like I failed my family. We were cold, stressed out, hungry and miserable in the middle of nowhere. I just wanted a cool photo shoot at this plane and it wasn’t going well. 👎🏽

Antz calmed me down. We asked people around us to help with our tripod. No one could figure it out so we just set it aside. I took off my coat and used it to wipe the water off our lens best I could so it starting working intermittently. I took a deep breath and looked up and saw this.

Iceland was telling me to chill the hell out. I started cropping my photos so you couldn’t see the tourists in the back. I used my Go Pro when our camera wasn’t working. We took advantage of the sun coming out and asked a guy to take our photo*. The first guy we asked to take our photo sounded like he was from Russia and he took such a shitty photo I almost snapped at him. The second guy was Polish and extremely kind and patient. I must say, my husband is the hero on this day. Liv and I were so cranky for obvious reasons and he handled our tantrums like a champ.

This was my face prior to my meltdown. I was pissed off and not in the mood for photos. This moment taught me a lesson on my expectations, my level of patience and learning how to adapt when things don’t go as planned. I absolutely LOVE these photos. They remind me of the photos Lee took of us in London. I am so grateful we were able to turn this disaster into a treasured memory.

I actually love that this guy made it into my photo.

He took hundreds of photos and was so sweet to lay on rocks to get certain angles to ensure my photos came out beautifully. I had to beg him to let me take a few of him because I reasoned, we would never come here again.

I had to crop every photo to hide the tourists. Believe it or not, we didn’t use Photoshop or edit any of these photos. We tilted the camera to hide people in the background. You can see this guy in the blue jacket who seemed to walk through most of our shots.

I want to show the difference from using my iPhone (photo on the left) and our wonky-acting Nikon. For some reason we couldn’t get the definition of the sky to show up using my iPhone without making the plane dark. Lighting has always been my downfall when I take photos. I took a photography class prior to the trip so I would be prepared for less than ideal light. I even bought an external flash but it didn’t help.

This is my favorite shot of the day. I was not even posing and Antz captured the light perfectly. I wish my dumb hiking boots weren’t showing.

I have no idea how to take selfies with our Go Pro. I noticed later that day that most of the shots I took with it had a fish eye effect.

I am so thankful we met the nicest guy who offered to take our photo after watching us behave like the Three Stooges trying to set up my tripod. I almost got my camera on the mount but it didn’t feel stable and I could just see the tripod falling over and breaking the $2,500 lens we rented.

This was the last photo I took before starting that long, long walk back to the car.

Yep, completely empty when we left. However, there were lots more people coming in on our walk back. We even bumped into some newlyweds in Indian attire near the road. I told the lovely bride she should change her fancy shoes because she had a long, hard walk ahead of her. She changed into ballet flats as if that was somehow better.

I gotta say, this is a part of traveling. Encountering the unknown, going outside of your comfort zone and experiencing things you would never do at home. Back in LA, I would never go for a hike for that long so I am glad I did it. The photos were totally worth the tears.

We drove back to Reykjavik and stopped to take a photo of these insane turf houses we saw during our tour but weren’t able to get a shot of them.

When I think about Iceland the word that comes to mind is other-worldly. It’s something you need to see in person to get a sense of the beauty.

SaveSave

The coolest restaurant in Iceland

Mar 6, 2017

My friend Christina gave me a list of recommendations for our trip. I was skeptical when she suggested visiting a tomato farm. Antz, Liv and I are not big fans of tomatoes but I knew if Christina says it’s good, it’s worth a visit. I called a couple of weeks in advance to make a reservation but my bad luck Liz curse struck again. The afternoon I wanted to go turned out to be the only day of the year they were closed for maintenance. I had to adjust our itinerary to make a reservation. Luckily, we got the last available spot of the day!

We drove an hour and a half from Reykjavik to Friðheimar farm. The Ring Road is Iceland’s main road but it’s mostly a two lane road so they have this subtle reminder to not speed. Those cars are from an actual accident. The irony is I nearly had an accident trying to get a photo of this car wreck (just kidding, Antz took the photo). We passed this reminder several times while in Iceland which was helpful because I am usually a speed demon. I had to make a quick pitstop on the drive to snap this rad photo.

I damn near lost my mind when I saw this sign. Björk actually translates to birch in Icelandic and there are birch trees everywhere. Too bad I didn’t see the real Björk.

Antz had to convince me to not ask the owner if I could buy this flag to bring home to LA. Friðheimar is a working farm so during the summer months they put on a horse show. There are also ten hens that live on the property.

I really didn’t understand what the hype was about a tomato farm but when we arrived it was impressive. The tomatoes are grown in a temperature controlled greenhouse so they grow year-round. The owners buy the cutest, fuzzy bumblebees from Belgium to aid with the fertilization of the plants. I think the key to making these tomatoes taste so good is the natural Icelandic geothermal water.

Olivia was excited to cut her own fresh herbs to add to her food. When you arrive, you can check out the greenhouse and hit the all you can eat tomato soup bar. Everything has tomatoes, even the water! I tried my first blood Mary (sorry, I’ll stick to margaritas).

We met the owner Knútur, he was very kind and gave us a quick tour of the greenhouse. Liv was a little nervous around the bees but they are so fuzzy and cute.

The food was amazing, I must have had three bowls of tomato soup. By the time my entree arrived, I was stuffed. The tomatoes were sweet and perfectly ripe. Not soft and mushy like most restaurants in LA serve. The greenhouse was fascinating. We learned so much about horticulture. It wasn’t the smelly, traditional farm I envisioned.

On the way out we stopped by the Little Tomato shop and taste-tested tomato preserves and jam.

We bought a jar of green tomato jam and it’s still in our fridge at home!

The Friðheimar Tomato Farm is a must-see/eat stop in Iceland. The staff is friendly and genuine and the food is exceptional. The owner takes pride in his farm and really connects with his customers. I wish that same warmness would happen in Los Angeles. Most restaurants are over-priced and I often feel like there is not a lot of quality put into the food and the waiters can be rude and pushy. Maybe I’m just over pretentious LA.

Friðheimar

Bláskógabyggð
IS-801 Selfoss
(+354) 486 8894
fridheimar@fridheimar.is

Open from noon – 4pm daily. I strongly recommend making a reservation.

Iceland Day Three

Feb 17, 2017

As much as I wanted to just sleep in the next day we had a prepaid tour that was FOURTEEN HOURS long! I was hoping to avoid booking any guided tours but I also wanted to see parts of Iceland I didn’t feel so confident driving to. Plus, this tour was highly rated and it was only a group of ten. The bad news was we had some lame people in our group. They were from Boston and incredibly annoying. They complained about missing some dumb football game and were always late returning to the bus because they had to smoke. They seemed bored during the tour and just plain rude. The good news was our tour guide made the day interesting and was a delight. Our tour guide/driver was named Good Jon but I accidentally kept calling him Lil’ Jon. He didn’t seem to mind. I know we were the only ones who tipped him when the tour was over. I booked our tour through Viator which I have used on past trips. I like that they pick you up from your house and drop you off. It was nice not having to drive all day. We saw so many amazing sites but I do wish we could have spent more time as some places. Unfortunately the dinner we had (at a gas station) wasn’t yummy.

Here’s an interesting fact about the bridges in Iceland, due to budget, many were built with only ONE LANE!! This was particularly terrifying because there are no lights or signs warning the other cars when you are driving across. They simply play chicken with on-coming traffic and pray one of you make it to this tiny spot to pull over all while driving 70 km! Antz was grateful I wasn’t driving.

Our first stop was Seljlandfoss which is the only waterfall you can walk behind without getting wet.

Not too far away is Skógafoss. Not too shabby.

We stopped at a gas station where Liv ogled the cheap souvenirs.

Our next destination was located in the village of Vík. There is Reynisfjara beach that has black sand and basalt columns. The beach is popular for viewing puffins however they weren’t in season when we visited. Boo. It is also a famously dangerous beach due to the strong current from the Atlantic ocean. We were told to stay far away from the water because some tourists were fatally swept away by the tide.

This guy wins for most epic hair! And I thought my braids were long.

Our next stop was Jökulsárlón lagoon for a boat ride. I met a cutie from Italy but he spoke Icelandic with an Italian accent.

Our tour guide broke this ice into small pieces. As an avid ice eater, I am not exaggerating when I say it was the most crystal clear yummy ice I’ve ever had.

We stopped by the beach to play in the sand. It was crazy seeing the ice get washed away by the tide.

On the drive back to Reykjavik we passed one of the country’s oldest churches.

We stopped at another gas station for dinner. There aren’t many restaurants open late so most gas stations serve lamb. I ordered some sort of chicken stew. I was hoping to buy an authentic Icelandic wool blanket but the shop closed just as we arrived.

It was after 11pm by the time we made it home and I still felt like I haven’t had a full night’s sleep. ZZzzzzzz!

Iceland Day Two

Feb 2, 2017

You know those mornings when you wake up feeling like you only got fifteen minutes of sleep? Well, our day was packed so we got our bloodshot eyes up and checked out of the Ion hotel. We didn’t have a set schedule but I wanted to see as much as we could in the area before driving to our house rental in Reykjavik by 4pm.

Before we checked out I took a quick stroll outside for as long as my frozen fingers could bear the wind. I was planning to take a quick dip in the outdoor spa but hells no, I am not crazy. But how lovely is that pool and all the gorgeous moss?

Since we were beat from the night before I didn’t get to the Northern Lights bar so we popped in to take a few photos of the space. I sat in silence and daydreamed that I was watching the Northern lights.

Be lucky you don’t have smell-o-vision because Strokkur geyser smells like rotten eggs. However, it erupts every eight minutes and is quite majestic.

I dig this chicks braids! We arrived at Gullfoss, one of Iceland’s largest waterfalls. Also the most touristy spot so our visit was quick.

On our drive to Thingvellir national park I felt compelled to stop on the side of the road to say hello to these gorgeous horses. They were like, “Uh, we are camera ready lady, get shooting.” Iceland’s scenery feels like a movie set. I was so happy to have the rented wide angle lens, my regular lens would not have captured such beauty.

Yep, unfriendliest animals in the world. That sky is totally unfiltered. We may have missed the Northern lights but those moody, blue skies almost made up for it.

I am a great actress because I look relaxed and happy here but the reality was I was foolishly taking a sitting photo in the middle of the famous Ring Road which was terrifying. We were at the bottom of a hill so we had a three second window between cars and trucks hitting us. I tested my agility to get up from a sitting position in less than three seconds many times before we go these shots. I was literally jumping for joy when I got the last shot. So here’s my tip future travelers: Don’t get out of your car and stand in the middle of the busiest road in Iceland because it’s illegal and dangerous. But then again, YOLO!

Thingvellir is massive. We drove in from the back side of the park which was great because we missed most of the tourists and busses. There is so much to see and do you don’t have to visit the same spots that the travel companies go to. You do have to purchase a day pass which you buy from a kiosk and place it in your car. Bring cash for the day pass because the credit card option wasn’t working when we bought ours. We walked to Öxarárfoss and it was magnificent. Hardly anyone there and an easy hike. I found it funny that we would stop on the side of the road to explore empty spaces and several cars were following us to take the same photos we took. Like the horses, no one was there when we decided to stop but when we walked back to the car, there were about six cars pulling over as well as a bus full of people. Copycats!

I wish we had more time to spend in the park (where Game of Thrones is filmed!) but I wanted to get to the rental so we could shower and go to dinner. It is about an hour and a half drive to Reykjavik.

Liv was stoked to have her choice of two bedrooms and I was elated to have wifi and two bathrooms. We usually have to wait in line to get ready in the mornings so it was heaven to simultaneously get ready. Most Icelandic bathrooms have heated floors!

Our first stop was Kex Hostel which I heard about on Instagram. We had a cocktail and it was a cool place but we decided it was too noisy for dinner.

Off to find some grub!

On the drive to downtown Reykjavik, we passed the lovely Harpa concert hall. My dream is to see Björk perform there one day.

This is the Sun Voyager sculpture. It’s a sun dial that is commonly mistaken as a Viking ship that represents Iceland’s lengthy history. Close to the harbor we came across a restaurant that had a quote from Anthony Bourdain painted on it so that was a good enough reason to give it a try.

I had lobster, of course, prepared four ways. I even tried a lobster shot!!

Our waiter recommended we try the chef’s special dessert which was incredible. I wish waiters in LA were as friendly and helpful (but I understand, most Americans are assholes).

Iceland Day One

Jan 25, 2017

I spent hours researching our trip to the land of fire and ice, one of my highest priorities was taking phenomenal photos. I signed up for a photography class and educated myself about my Nikon camera settings and lenses. I bought a new zoom lens but I needed something that would allow me a wider angle for close up shots. The problem was a $2,500 lens was not in my budget. I was so stoked to find out that Samy’s Camera rents Nikon lenses! I was able to try out different lenses for $25 bucks a day. I fell in love with a wide angle lens and bought a tripod because every person who has traveled to Iceland assured me I would need it to take photos of the Northern Lights. However the lens was large and heavy and along with two other lenses, the tripod, extra batteries, accessories and an external flash (that we never used) there was no way everything would fit into our camera bag. Antz somehow squeezed everything into his suitcase. I had to repack like ten times because my heavy boots didn’t fit and I kept going over the 44 lb weight maximum.

This was just one of the ten outfits I packed. I bought thermal leggings from Amazon and wore layers everyday because even on windy rainy days, I was sweating from all the hiking. I had the hardest time finding the right coat to wear in Iceland. I did not want a puffy coat because they don’t look so great on me and they only come in boring colors. I ended up finding a fantastic white wool coat from Asos on sale for like $73! It was so warm and I was the brightest person in Reykjavik.

Making it rain in Icelandic Kronas! I found the best currency exchange place located in our new bank in Glendale.

The first day of our trip went surprisingly seamless. I may sound like a broken record but I strongly recommend flying with Wow Airlines. I will say, their gate at LAX was kinda lame and it felt like we walked for miles to get there. However they are a fairly new airline to LAX, so they don’t have a lounge area to wait in yet. Since we arrived so early and didn’t want to stand or sit on the floor for an hour, we waited in the nearby Virgin Atlantic area. Luckily, we saw the Wow crew walking by so we knew it was almost time to board. Other than that, everything was great. We had the sweetest flight attendants (ours looked like Margot Robbie) and the pilots invited Liv into the cockpit when we landed. The plane was clean and the seats had more room in coach than other airlines I’ve flown. There are only two seats for the window row so Antz had to sit across from us in the middle. All flights from Los Angeles arrive in Reykjavik at 4 am so that is something you need to plan for if you are checking into a hotel. We had a full day planned so it worked to our advantage.

Our Uber driver was a little crazy, he followed the weirdest route to LAX which took us on a journey through the back alleys of downtown but we made it on time! LAX is one of my favorite places in Los Angeles. The TSA line is always miserable but there has been improvements on the design of the international terminal.

Once we made it through the lines of agony, we did some pre-flight shopping at Fred Segal. Then we picked up a light breakfast of pastries.

Can someone please buy these for my next trip??!!

Most folks seem to have a problem when it comes to traveling with young kids but honestly, Liv has been our lucky rabbits foot. We get to board the plane first, the flight attendants absolutely love her which gets us perks and she’s a pleasure to travel with. It’s true, the earlier you travel with your kids, the more open-minded and exposed they become.

Fortunately no one sat next to Antz so he had plenty of room to spread out.

I love that we can give our daughter the gift of travel and a proclivity for adventure. As we were flying over Canada, I felt so grateful that we could afford to take this trip instead of putting it off for “one day“.

Liv ate an entire box of rice crispy treats and a bag of trail mix. Don’t forget to pack plenty of snacks and water, nothing on this flight is free!

I waited my whole life to see the incredible Northern Lights. The week before we arrived in Iceland, they had the most vivid and clear Northern Lights in recent history. The government shut down all the lights in Reykjavik so people could view them better. I tracked the weather and the nightly skies on this website everyday until our trip. I slept during most of the flight but I did wake up and happened to look out the window. That sad green smear you see above is the Northern Lights. I tried and failed to take a photo with my rented lens because it was impossible to take a shot while we were moving and the glass from the window wasn’t allowing my camera to auto focus. When I took the photography class I specifically asked about taking photos at night and the key is to use a slow shutter speed, which means using a tripod. Every shot I have seen of the northern lights look like this…

That early morning was the only Northern Lights we were able to see because clouds came in with our flight and obscured the sky for the whole week. The Liz curse strikes again!

You wanna hear another great story? I booked our car rental back in July. I went ahead and splurged on an SUV with a snow package and all the extra insurance I could buy just in case. My friend Christina recommended getting a portable WiFi box so we will have coverage. I also got a navigation system even though the last time I rented a car in London, it didn’t work. So, I was pretty covered for our rental which totaled close to $800 for the week. I was promised to get a BMW X3 SUV or similar. This is what I got and believe me when I say, I acted like a disgusting, entitled American and threw a tantrum when I saw this Opal whatever it is. The chick at the rental place was like, “Bitch…you can walk.” So, here’s my Icelandic $800 pimped out ride. Well, at least it had a heated steering wheel.

The only place to eat that was open at 6am was disappointing Subway. Yet, after a long flight, we were starving so it was good to have something familiar. I got the “Cool American” flavor Doritos. It was insane that the sun doesn’t rise until 9 am. It was pitch black at 8 in the morning.

Guess those snow tires I paid for came in handy. They chilled in the trunk for the whole week. I think I could have been happier with the car if it was white. What color is this, depressing beige?

It was freezing by the time we arrived at the Blue Lagoon. I was worried we wouldn’t be able to enjoy the visit because of how cold it was outside.

The Blue Lagoon was breath-taking. It was cold but once you’re in the water, it’s lovely. Now I was glad I paid for all of our extra luggage because I brought our aqua sock water shoes. Bare feet in public spaces is my phobia! There is an indoor entrance in the water so you don’t have to walk outside in the cold. Kids under 8 are required to wear floaties but the water level was shallow enough for Liv to stand on her tippy toes.

Really, best day ever!! You must bring a GoPro to the lagoon. iPhones won’t cut it.

So surreal, it was so warm and beautiful. And we only had been in Iceland for five hours.

After a quick shower, we were back on the road, headed to our hotel for the first night. I booked the iconic Ion Luxury Hotel for our first night in Iceland because it is located in the middle of nowhere. Like, so much so that they don’t even have an traditional address. Of course, our rental’s navigation system took us an hour out of the way to get there. We were the only car driving on an endless stretch of road so I was pretty nervous we would get lost. Luckily, Iceland has awesome maps on the side of the roads for us clueless tourists. They are so thoughtful. I first read about the impressive hotel when it was featured in Afar magazine. It is known for being one of the best hotels for viewing the Northern Lights. Since it has the word luxury in the name, you know it’s expensive and also sold out even six months in advance. I must have called to make reservations every damn day until finally three weeks before our trip, they found a room for me. I was elated because this meant we could go to their beautiful Northern Lights bar and sit by the floor to ceiling windows to see the Northern Lights. It never occurred to me there would be a week of cloudy skies but we enjoyed our night at the hotel anyway.

This river was boiling hot. Iceland, you so crazy! There is steam coming from power plants all over Iceland. People who live there never have to pay to heat their water. Energy is also dirt cheap because they power mostly everything from steam.

Let me say, this hotel is unique and off the beaten track. It definitely had a James Bond sexy vibe to it. We were told that helicopter belonged to one of the guests, fancy! The Silfra restaurant is so reknown that tourists are bussed in from Reykjavik. We didn’t think to make a reservation since we were staying at the hotel and they almost couldn’t accommodate us.

A cool thing about the water in Iceland, it’s 100% from the natural springs. Iceland has the purest water on the planet so you can actually drink from the shower, the faucets or even the ground. We went to a store and tried to buy bottled water and the woman was like “No, you go to the hotel and fill up your water bottle from the tap!” Honestly, the best water I have ever tasted. It felt nice to take a long hot shower and not feel guilty about a drought.

We arrived at the hotel about noon but our room wasn’t ready yet so we hung out in the lobby. Our jet lag set in and we ended up falling asleep. I know I was snoring! When our room was ready, we had just enough time to change our clothes for our horseback riding tour. We booked a private tour through the hotel so a nice girl named Hannah picked us up and drove us to her family’s farm.

The two hours was over in an instant. It rained lightly but the sun peeked out. The horses were incredible, I was Snapchatting and taking photos most of the time so my horse was like “Ok, lady I guess I’ll control myself.”

When we got back to the hotel, we were starving. Silfra restaurant was packed. The hotel only has 24 rooms but they were fully booked for dinner. Iceland’s specialty is seafood and lamb but we had amazing sushi too. I used my charm to get us a table even though they require reservations. This was our most expensive meal during the trip.

OMG! This langoustine was heaven. Antz loved his seafood soup. Liv’s burger was meh.

After a quick FaceTime with my BFF, Aimee we went straight to bed. I’m actually relieved the Northern Lights weren’t out that night because it felt like we were awake for 24 hours straight so off to bed we went. It was incredibly hard to wake up early for our next long day.

It’s Beautiful Here Part Two

Jan 19, 2017

As I said in my last remodel post, our ten year old furniture was showing its age. Timing was on my side since we began the remodel in October, it was close to Black Friday sale time. I am the self proclaimed queen of shopping on a budget. Our biggest purchase was a new sectional sofa but I couldn’t find one that came with a washable slipcover. I finally ended up buying a custom couch from the same place I bought our first couch ten years ago, Sofa U Love. Olivia was happy to test all the couches out for us and was completely satisfied with our selection.

We ordered this comfy, custom, L-shaped sectional with a washable slipcover in aqua blue and white linen denim. I love that we now have a backup slipcover so our couch doesn’t end up with as much wear and tear as our last one. It was going to take six weeks for the couch to be built which was perfect since we were knee-deep in construction. Since we replaced our old black and white striped throw blanket three times, I found the perfect throw in navy from Anthropologie. It may have cost more than the Ikea blanket but it’s such higher quality that it shouldn’t get ruined in the laundry like the old one always did. We mixed our old pillows with few cute ones I bought from Target.

Next on my furniture list was replacing our Ikea coffee table and our old, clunky bar. I came this close to buying a vintage steamer trunk from Rejuvenation but it was pricey and wasn’t the best storage solution to hold all of our scrapbooks and photo boxes. I gotta say, I didn’t have a huge budget to work with at this point (thanks to our new HVAC!) Isn’t World Market is the most underrated store? I find their furniture to be better quality than Ikea and totally affordable. I not only got all of my pieces on sale, but because of Black Friday sales, they practically gave it away! I bought our coffee table, bar and hanging light fixture all under budget. So you know what that means…?

Splurge time! I had to splurge on an early Christmas present for our family. I spent weeks putting together this gorgeous photo book from our trip to Iceland and ordered museum quality photo prints from Artifact Uprising. I have wanted a photo book from them for years but I knew they were expensive. I gotta say, the quality is so worth it. That book is one of my most prized possessions. Their customer service is excellent. I plan on making a photo book from their site for every trip we take from now on.

We bought a new rug for the dining room and an eucalyptus wreath for our front door from West Elm on sale. We found a comfy armchair in the as-is department at Ikea for 60% off that fit the space perfectly. There was absolutely nothing wrong with it, just a floor model. I had a mini shopaholic spree buying a new rad doormat, and a beautiful vintage French flag from Etsy. I wanted to splurge on a new doorknob set too but our furniture and accessories budget were already stretched. I just polished our old doorknob and it looked awesome against the bright yellow.

I was so happy to finally have shelves to display my knickknacks and books I’ve had in storage over the years. At first, I put my nice things away because we had a wild toddler on the loose but over time, we didn’t have the space to display them. It was like Christmas unwrapping our toys and books.

Speaking of Christmas, by the time our house was finished it was mid December which is why some of these photos have Christmas decoration in them.

As we made progress putting together our living room, Antz wanted to leave the walls stark white and clutter-free but I had a strong opinion about that…

As much as I agree with him the walls needed some dressing up. I guess I am forever a thirteen year old girl at heart because I’m a sucker for all thing cute and colorful. The last element for decorating our space was hanging artwork and family photos. We chose a mix of classic white frames, an elaborate vintage frame Antz found at a thrift store and some gold frames I bought from Anthropologie. I am hunting for an enormous frame for a poster I want to hang. I am also saving for a piece of art I have my eye on.

Here’s the room as a blank space. You can see the before and after of our refinished floors!

And here’s our newly remodeled house. Ta-dah!

We are so happy with the new paint color! What a relief we didn’t stick with that ridiculous Smurf blue. The paint is Behr Premium. Since we had to mix our original color choice it’s a hybrid of Tidal and Dark Denim.

The door color is English Daisy. I bought the ceramic bonjour plate months before the remodel from…you guessed it, Anthro. Our rocking chairs are from Lowes.

Let’s look inside.

We got rid of the old blue desk and moved a small desk we had in the bedroom in the corner. We had to find a new space for my sewing machine and our crafts. It’s tricky working with a small house (remember it’s under 900 square feet) but the white walls and higher ceiling makes the space feel more open.

I love our new workspace. It’s compact and efficient and best part, clutter-free! We used to keep our printer across the room from our desk which was always inconvenient. I somehow purged all of our files and office supplies to fit into this West Elm file cabinet. After having no luck in finding an affordable frame for my vintage Björk poster, Antz took it to Aaron Bros to be vacuum-formed to a piece of foam board. Then he made this frame with leftover wood. He is so resourceful! The total cost of this project was $51 bucks. I love finally being able to display this rad poster after it was in a tube for 15 years.

The bonus on top of the remodel was we finally upgraded from a queen size bed to a king! I spent a lot of money on our W Hotel mattress but after buying cheap spring mattresses over the years, but I think it is worth the investment. Antz spent eight frustrated hours building our last storage bed frame so this time we paid our workers to build the new king frame. It only took two of them five hours but our bedroom is almost the same size as our new bed. The king bed takes up so much space that we had to remove our old bedside tables because they didn’t fit. I found a new one that matched the walnut frame and just fit by an inch. By upgrading to a larger storage bed frame all of our bedding fit under the bed. Let me tell you, having the mattress shipped from New York was expensive and full of drama (that I do not want to relive) but every night when we roll around on our huge bed we are super happy. I sleep like a baby now. Liv can sleep with us (she does most weekends) and we don’t feel cramped. It was a bummer to have to get rid of all our old bedding and start from scratch but I saved $300 using coupons from Bed, Bath & Beyond.

We are pinching ourselves that we were able to create a space with so much of our personality reflected. We stayed positive during the stress of a remodel, the dumb election, Antz moving into a new office at work and constantly making compromises due to our budget. Thanks for checking it out, let me know what you think!