Le Marche aux Puces de Saint-Ouen

May 28, 2018

Bonsoir amis,

There is a huge antique (les puces) flea market in Northern Paris. You have to walk through a few blocks of fake flea markets before you find the real one. I’m talking really tacky jeans, shady looking jewelry and cheap knock-off designer sunglasses. There are guys also selling “Chanel” perfume and unboxed cell phones aggressively. Once you make it through that, you will find a lovely antique flea market. We spent a few hours looking for items for our new apartment. I wanted a vintage Parisian street sign, a Camroon Juju hat, a Moroccan Fez, an embroidered tablecloth, and a steamer trunk. I left empty-handed because everything was super expensive. I am not into haggling over prices and most of the vendors were cranky. We encountered a few very friendly people however more vendors seemed annoyed by our presence than pleased.

I did stop at the tacky flea market for a second to try on this lovely African necklace. Not for me. I need a longer neck to pull this off.

The tacky flea market vs Les Puces

I didn’t even dare ask the price of these vintage Louis Vuitton steam trunks, but aren’t they dreamy?

Just a tad too small.

Olivia was looking for a ring with her birthstone, which a pearl but I told her most of the jewelry looked cursed. Kidding! There was so much cool antique stuff but so expensive.

Tell me I’m wrong…

Should I just casually purchase a crystal ball? Or do I need these guys in our new apartment?

So, if you thought the sweet doll from Annabelle was “scary” then meet her older brother known as Mister Nightmare!

Liv kept saying, I want a doll. They aren’t scary, Mom, they are just authentic!

Hmmm, her birthday is coming soon, tempting.

This silverware was beautiful. I have the worst feeling those nightgowns were worn by actual ghosts!

This signage and lamp stall was my favorite but sadly everything was well over my budget. I would love to buy a French street sign but even the small ones were €250. I will keep searching.

I love looking at taxidermy but would never dare own it. Cool cuckoo clock at the top. I really wanted a chandelier but I have no idea what size to buy, if they work or how to have it installed in our apartment.

Another item I really wanted to splurge on was this incredible rabbit painting. I liked the size and the frame but I couldn’t justify spending €250 on a painting that wasn’t an original. Not when I’m married to an amazingly talented artist who works for cheap wine and kisses.

I also was going to ask about this rad Moroccan fez hat but some old, mean guy who worked in another stall yelled at us to not take pictures did not seem to want to chit chat with Americans.

After getting yelled at a few times for taking pictures (Okay, jeez didn’t know I was in a museum!) and running into one too many creepy dolls, we left just in time to get rained on. I’m glad we checked it out but I am an online shopper at heart. I’m still looking for those items on eBay and Etsy.

The flea market address is:

142 Rue des Rosiers, 93400 Saint-Ouen, France

Make sure you walk north of the freeway overpass, stay to the right and look for rue Jean Henri Fabre, there are entrances all along this street.

My ignorant, American ass was snapping photos most of the time but some of the vendors don’t want their merchandise photographed, so be sure to ask first. And please, say Bonjour and Merci to every person you encounter!

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Life in Paris: Month Deux

May 17, 2018

Bonjour mes amis,

It has already been two months since our arrival in Paris! I cannot tell you how fast this time has flown by. We exchanged our house in LA with a sweet French couple in Nation (12th arrondissement) for the first two months so we could have time to apartment hunt. I am so happy we were able to live in Nation mostly because we were able to experience a new part of the city we have never seen before.

I feel like I have finally mastered taking Liv to school on the Metro. I used to be confused about which direction the train would go and call myself out as an obvious tourist during the ride by watching for every stop. Now, we know all the train lines and have the cool, I can’t be bothered look while on the train. I do still get secretly excited when an accordion player is on the train. Although once on a crowded train I got my skirt caught in the door.

Side Note: My hair is huge here. I spend hours flat ironing it and yet the second I go outside it turns into an instant pouf. Must be the humidity, there is so much moisture in the air.

Liv and I usually discuss our plans for the week and how we are adjusting to life in France during the ride. I ask her about the differences between LA and Paris. She makes statements like France is so much more cultural and historic than California. She told me, “In Paris everyone takes public transportation but hardly anyone in LA does. Most people at the grocery store are grumpy but here they care about helping you.” She also said the food here is much better than LA. She’s doing well in school. I have met some of the parents of her classmates (although very few speak English). Her curriculum is very similar to her French school in LA but they go off the campus for PE (which is called sports) and I feel terrible because I can’t help her with most of her homework (only math and English).

After I drop her off, I usually take the bus home because the Metro is very crowded and grab my luggy to pick up the day’s groceries. I still can’t get over how frequently I have to shop here. We go through groceries like crazy!

So far we absolutely love living in Paris. I still cannot believe we are here after dreaming of this for so many years. However, there are some downsides to life in France. Please don’t think I’m some entitled brat complaining about my great life, I just want to keep it real and show both sides of our life.

It is very expensive! So far we have plunked down quite a bit of euros for household items (new towels, shopping at Ikea for our new apartment, basic toiletries). It’s harder to stick to a budget because we had to stock up on basic items. Our first week here I bought Liv a scooter, new clothes and had to replace a pair of shoes she outgrew. This month Antz and I needed some new clothes because we (happily) lost weight! I spend €225 every month on our Metro/bus passes but sometimes in a pinch, we need to use Uber and depending on how far we are from home, it can be expensive. We needed to rush home from Versailles to make it to a birthday party on time and it ended up costing €65 for a 30 minute ride.

Liv really enjoyed her €9 smoothie.

Then Monoprix had to come out with this rad limited-time collab with Maison Chateau Rouge. Just take all my money!

The romper was for Liv but if they had my size I would totally rock it. I pretty much cleared out their home decor display.

However, groceries seem less expensive here than in LA. Like cheese, meat and beverages are super cheap. But let me tell you about the most magical, delicious item in all of France… la beurre!

Back home I buy insignificant salted butter for like $3.99 on sale. Here, I only buy Sel de Mer de Noirmoutier and it is so delicious. I use it on everything, you could tell me it has crystal meth in it and I would still be like “Pass the butter.” I must say, America is missing out on this fucking amazing butter. It costs €2.35!

However dining out is still costing a fortune. We stopped ordering cocktails and are sticking to drinking water but we can’t seem to keep our bill under €75. Recently, while out on a stroll around the neighborhood we found the famous rue Montorgueil. The heavens parted and angels sang as we discovered the most intoxicating smells of baked bread, meats and fresh fruit. The oldest bakery in Paris is located here. It’s now my favorite place to buy fruit and we fell in love with all the restaurants.

We brought home the best BBQ ribs and a half a kilo of cherries for lunch. Liv gobbled the whole tray in five minutes! Oh, and I am now a basket lady. I have bought three baskets since I got here. This is who I am now. Note: The fluffy hair.

We found this incredible living wall called L’oasis d’Aboukir. It rains almost once a week so I guess that is why this garden is so insanely green.

There are a few other annoyances here that I can’t seem to figure out. Like getting mail delivered. It seemed to be easier to get our mail when we were staying in Nation but that could be due to our sweet neighbors helping us out by accepting our packages. In our new apartment, we have a mailbox that we put our names on but nothing has been delivered so far. It took many attempts to find which of the local post offices our address belonged to. My French is not as great as I thought it was. I was able to pick up one package (I ordered five weeks ago!) yet three more are in mail limbo because we were told if our building has a locked gate, they can’t deliver packages. Uh, like every single building in Paris has a passcode door so why wouldn’t they at least email me or leave a note so I know where to pick up my stuff? Today I am going to Fed Ex for the third time to pick up a package that was delivered nine days ago! My Mom sent me a huge care package and it took me two weeks to figure out how to track it down.

Another thing I will never get used to is the military presence here. I mean, they all seem like nice soldiers but it’s jarring to walk down the street and then boom, there’s five or six fully uniformed army folks casually carrying guns that look like they belong in a video game. I don’t dare take photos of them but they do say bonjour without a smile as I walk by. Oh, and they wear berets. I suppose I am lucky to live in a relatively safe neighborhood because there have been random knife attacks since we have arrived and sadly, I am always cautious when we are in large crowds.

I also seemed to have a hyper-sensitive aversion to noise. I was equally annoyed by the nonsense noise caused by our hillbilly neighbors (they had the world’s lamest garage band) in LA. Here, the sounds are subtle but torturous. For example, we noticed the first night while in bed, the upstairs neighbor’s toilet must be directly above our heads. Imagine the sounds we heard. They also had some type of saloon door that swings shut. This door produced a boom, bump, bump, bump sound all day long, just about every 30 seconds. I was very close to paying them a friendly visit to offer some felt pads but we moved into a new apartment. Just as we arrived at our new home we were welcomed by the constant cooing of les pigeons. They nest outside of our kitchen window and their incessant cooing sounds make me want to murder. Liv and Antz swear they can’t hear them so I’m the only one going crazy over the sound.

My final (first-World) problem is our new apartment doesn’t have a separate dryer. They consider this country sophisticated? I was warned about the hard, scratchy towels of Paris so I’ve always traveled with my own towel. The night before we left LA, I took a shower and used my soft, brand new bath towel that I packed in my carry-on. Then as we were re-packing our stuff I realized I only had enough room for either my winter coat or my towel. I was already wearing my camel year-round coat on the plane so I had to make a Sophie’s Choice. I decided it won’t be so terrible to buy new towels in Paris once we arrived. Guess what? Soft, plush towels do not exist here! I was stuck using my face towel for the first week. Monoprix does sell towels but they have a scratchy texture and cost $32.99 each. So, lesson learned, travel with your own pillowcases and towels. I did bring my allergy-free pillowcase covers with me. So, I’m living in 1925 y’all!

I adore freshly dried linen sheets or hand-washed pajamas but putting on stiff as cardboard undies sucks! Now I understand why everyone has to iron clothes here.

In other fun news, it’s peony season! My favorite flower is in bloom and you can buy four stems for 20 euros. Well, that’s how much they were at the marche however Antz found a sweet bouquet for me for Mother’s day for just ten euros.

This is how they look three days later, swoon.

May 1st is May Day. According to Wikipedia, on 1 May 1561, King Charles IX of France received a lily of the valley as a lucky charm. He decided to offer a lily of the valley each year to the ladies of the court. At the beginning of the 20th century, it became custom to give a sprig of lily of the valley, a symbol of springtime, on 1 May. Nowadays, people may present loved ones either with bunches of lily of the valley.

Liv has been a crafting machine since most of her toys couldn’t fit in her suitcase. I took her to La Droguerie to buy a pom pom making kit. This colorful place is located on

9-11 Rue du Jour, 75001 Paris, France

She was able to customize her own glitter! This kid and I were in rainbow craft supplies heaven.

We try to go to visit a new arrondissement every weekend. The parks here are absolutely gorgeous. Just don’t ever step on the grass. When the sky turns blue here, you grab a picnic basket and run outside!

Jardin de Luxembourg
Rue de Vaugirard, Boulevard St. Michel, Rue Auguste-Comte and Rue Guynemer 75006 Paris, France

The boat rentals are €4 for 30 minutes. Liv chose Mexico to rep her Grandma Maria.

I think the pony ride was €8. Sweetest pony but our seven year old child is a giant.

Parc Floral
4 route de la Pyramide | Bois de Vincennes, 12th, 75012 Paris, France

We also love strolling our new neighborhood to hunt for Invaders.

Liv pointed out the heart shapes in the window panes of that heart.

One evening we took a stroll and ended up on Île de la Cité just at sunset. I swear I am never going back to the US!! Life here is tres beau.

Ask me anything about living in Paris.

Road Trip to Brussels, Belgium

Apr 21, 2018

It feels like we have been traveling non-stop! My plan was to hit up Amsterdam for the weekend to see the tulip festival but the weather wasn’t cooperating so I drove to Brussels for Belgium chocolate and seeing the little pissing boy. It’s only a two hour drive so we got there easy peasy. We were waiting in line for Belgium waffles when it started pouring raining. It only lasted a few minutes but it was too wet to stay outside.

So this is her go-to thing she does now. I’m old and have no idea where this is from.

Why am I am notoriously clumsy?! Also, the rain didn’t do my Brigitte Bardot hairstyle any favors.

Yep, Mannekin Pis is everywhere! All I gotta say is WTF Brussels? You have a weird sense of humor (known in Flemish as zwanze). There were hundreds of tourists mobbing to get a picture of this little perverse guy. I somehow managed to get a shot of Liv but it was chaotic with the rain.

Most people don’t know this but there is a female peeing statue on the other side of the square called Jeanette Pis. I like her much better. Get it girl!

We left Old Town and drove around. I wanted to see a house I saw on Pinterest. Throughout Brussels there are murals of famous Belgium comics. Did you know the Smurfs and Tin Tin were created in Belgium? All over Old Town are murals of famous Belgium artists. There is a Brussels Comic Book route map to help you find all 43.

We drove around looking for a place to eat when we stumbled upon the Atomium. Do you know what the Atomium is? Good, neither did we. Apparently, Brussels had a World Fair in 1958 and this guy is a giant model of a unit cell of an iron crystal (each sphere representing an atom) an iron crystal magnified 165 billion times. Now it’s a huge weird landmark for folks to take selfies in front of.

On the way out of town we stopped at Maison Saint-Cyr a art-nouveau Baroque style house built by Gustave Strauven in 1901. I first saw it on Pinterest so luckily I remembered to see it.

I wish we bought more chocolate. It was amazing and didn’t last more than one day!

I would like to return in August so we can see the Floral Carpet at the Grand Place and watch the Le Meyboom, Procession of Giants. Next time I want to go look at diamonds in Antwerp, see the canals in Bruges and if we have time check out Ghent.

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Pâques aux jardins de Claude Monet

Apr 20, 2018

This was the first year since Liv was born that we didn’t spend Easter Sunday with our dear friends Stephen & Leslie at their annual Easter Party. We tried to FaceTime with them but the connection was terrible. We spent Easter Sunday driving through Normandie to Giverny, France to visit the Claude Monet gardens. To be honest, I am not the biggest Monet fan. I know of his work but it’s not for me. Here’s what Wikipedia says about him.

Oscar-Claude Monet
14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926 was a founder of French Impressionist painting, and the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement’s philosophy of expressing one’s perceptions before nature, especially as applied to plein air landscape painting. The term “Impressionism” is derived from the title of his painting Impression, soleil levant (Impression, Sunrise), which was exhibited in 1874. Monet’s ambition of documenting the French countryside led him to adopt a method of painting the same scene many times in order to capture the changing of light and the passing of the seasons. From 1883 Monet lived in Giverny, where he purchased a house and property and began a vast landscaping project which included lily ponds that would become the subjects of his best-known works. In 1899 he began painting the water lilies, first in vertical views with a Japanese bridge as a central feature, and later in the series of large-scale paintings that was to occupy him continuously for the next 20 years of his life.

Well, the town of Giverny was beautiful! To bad the weather was nice enough to bring out the bus-loads of tourists. We arrived later in the day and it was still crowded. Luckily, we have mastered the skill of cropping out the masses and finding empty spots.

After a long day of trying to get the perfect shot, I was thrilled to capture this candid moment of Liv and Antz discussing something silly. I wish I could get more candids of the three of us together enjoying the day without the contrived posing. I need to keep that in mind for our future photos.

The Claude Monet Gardens and House at Giverny

Rue Claude Monet
27620 Giverny France

Open everyday from 9:30 am – 6 pm until November 1st.

Magical Mont Saint-Michel

Apr 16, 2018

We took our first long train ride to the magical village of Mont Saint-Michel.

Mont Saint-Michel is an island commune in Normandy, France. It is located about one kilometre off the country’s northwestern coast, at the mouth of the Couesnon River near Avranches and is 100 hectares (247 acres) in size. As of 2009, the island has a population of 44.

The train ride was three hours each way and it’s a lovely picturesque way to see the countryside. I am still looking for those adorable furry lambs like the ones in Marie Antoinette.

It rained most of the morning but luckily, the sun appeared just as we were driving toward the castle!

We took the Metro to Gare Montparnasse, we got a little turned around and practically had to run to make our train (which was super far from the Metro entrance).

We had to get off and switch to a coach that drives us the rest of the way. It was rainy and cloudy most of the morning but as we approached, the sun came out.

We opted to take the horse drawn carriage across the bridge which fit the theme of heading towards a castle (if it weren’t for the hundreds of other tourists). You can also take a tram or walk for free. There were tons of teenagers walking across the clay colored sand covered in mud, gross!

Shout out to the tourist who we asked to take our picture for cropping out beautiful Mont Saint-Michel for us. I love when someone takes your photo and it comes out horrible but you have to politely say Oh, it came out great to not seem awkward. Luckily, Antz took a selfie with his long arms. We really need to hire a photographer to follow us wherever we go, totally necessary expense.

We Face-timed my Mom and showed her the village. I am so happy we gave her an iPhone and added her to our cell phone plan before moving. She still had a flip phone and I just recently taught her how to text. She now loves to send me random emojis!

This was the clay that surrounds the castle. You can walk across it during low-tide.

The lazy part of me was like there’s no way I was going to make it up the stairs to the top of that castle but fortunately, there is a main road that gradually weaves you to the top. We saw some people taking a rather steep and narrow short cut but they are crazy.

This kid wanted us to buy her a sword so bad but we were firm, she has three swords at home (in Paris) that she crafted with her Dad. I did pick up a France enamel pin and I bought the kid a gold souvenir coin to go with her collection.

We found a beautiful, small church close to the top. Since the Saint-Michel abbey was full of tourists, we hung out here. Liv asked to light a candle for Grandma Maria and we said a prayer. I haven’t seen a chandelier inside a church like this before. So magnificent!

We had lunch at one of the many Normandie cuisine restaurants. The food was so-so but the atmosphere was nice to take a break from the crowds.

I recommend taking a day trip to Mont Saint-Michel. No need to stay longer, there are only a handful of hotels and you can see everything in three hours or less. The village is overrun with tourists and crowded, so go early. I wouldn’t recommend wearing rubber wellies, after seven hours on my feet, I was done.

Liv’s white dress and detachable ruffle collar are from Little Creative Factory.
Her rain boots are from Bobo Choses.
The fox and rabbit headdress are from Animalesque.
My pink Victorian dress is from ASOS and it’s currently on sale.

We got many strange looks and our waitress asked if we were going to a party. We are getting used to it.

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Road Trips: Chantilly & Rouen

Mar 23, 2018

Bonjour,

What a dream it is to wake up in Paris. We spent the first week here severely jet lagged, which meant instead of sticking to my schedule, we stayed up all night and slept in until noon. We didn’t get out of the apartment until after 3 pm! Whoopsie, I always forget how tired we are the first few days in a new place. So originally I was planning to drive to Deauville but the weather was too cold and rainy to head towards the ocean so we drove an hour north towards the little village of Chantilly. I really love driving in Paris. At first it was scary and confusing but by the second day, it was just like driving in LA except a million more motorcyclists to watch out for. Everyone told us that the weather was freezing in Paris but we didn’t mind at all. It rains here much more often than we are used to but other than Olivia and my hair turning into a huge pouf, we were fine.

It lightly drizzled most of the day. The best part of the apartment we are staying at is, it’s on a private street so I get all the free parking I want.

My gangsta ride.

I kinda love how the toll roads work in France however, we got hit hard with one that was 18 euros and I was like, can we get a heads up before we get hit with that high toll?!

How cute are these maisons? The road was so narrow, Antz was nervous about my driving in the rain. I love setting all our navigation and Siri devices to British accents.

After about 50 roundabouts and having to back up on a narrow one lane street because I missed a turn, we made it! Chateau de Chantilly is so moody and beautiful.

The water was frozen, that’s how cold it was. Chateau de Chantilly was closed because it was Sunday but we took advantage of the picturesque scene and popped out a quick photo shoot with Liv’s Animalesque rabbit headress.

This kid is always asking for baguettes, she is a bread addict! We headed back into the city and went grocery shopping. Guess what? Nearly everything is closed on Sundays, so we had to go to Bic C’ Bon. It is tiny and doesn’t have half of what Monoprix carries but we were able to get some necessities.

Our first home cooked meal was breakfast for dinner! It was yummy but I was dying for our favorite rotisserie chicken.

The next day we managed to get up and out of the house by 10 am. I searched Pinterest the night before for French road trips that were under 3 hours from Paris and Rouen kept coming up. I could tell by the photos it would be worth the drive. The funny thing about driving on the freeway here is how the toll road just suddenly appear and they don’t give you any indication of how much it will be.

First we stocked up on croissants from our neighborhood boulanger.

I can’t even describe how pretty the drive was through Normandie. We made a quick stop along the way to check out this Mairie (Town Hall) when Olivia found the friendliest cat I’ve ever met. She wanted to take her with us (after naming her Marie) but I convinced her that she belonged to someone in the town.

Rouen was much bigger than I expected. There were so many churches but you couldn’t miss the Rouen Cathedral. It was so massive we couldn’t capture it in one photo. Antz took this amazing shot using panorama.

I prayed and lit a candle for my family (living and dead), Liv was fascinated! I explained to her the significance of prayer and she should take time to talk to her Grandma Maria. She loves to light candles now, we can’t pass a church without her asking to light a candle.

Antz found a Saint that beared his likeness. Saint Antho-key?

We walked around the town in awe of the medieval architecture.

I can’t wait until our next road trip. I would like to drive to the beautiful town of Giverny, Claude Monet’s home town for Easter weekend.

Bisous.

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This is no Dream… This is Really Happening: We moved to Paris!

Mar 9, 2018

Nous sommes arrivés à Paris! I can’t believe we have been here three whole days. Of course time is flying by in this beautiful city. Our flight was seamless which is shocking considering how much grief our fourteen pieces of luggage plus our huge iMac computer was giving Antz and me.

Thank goodness my Mom has a monster truck called “Beast” to help us carry all fourteen of our heavy bags! I even had to ship two suitcases because they were too heavy for the plane. I hope you got the Rosemary’s Baby (Mia Farrow with the cutest Pixie haircut ever) reference, film nerds! I got this rad shirt just for the flight because I love Rosemary’s Baby and I still am in denial that we have actually moved to freaking PARIS!!

This angel here hooked us up in such an awesome way!! I feel like the entire airport was cheering us on as we were leaving. Flying premium class has it’s perks, like we were able to hang out in the VIP lounge at LAX and I had so many yummy cocktails. They were serving a drink called Red Carpet because the Oscars were happening that weekend. I accidentally left my beloved navy Yokoo scarf in the lounge and only discovered it was missing as we were about to board our plane.

I wish I’d known we would end up having a two hour delay (we just ended up sitting on the plane) I would have tried to run and grab it. Boo!

Yet, we didn’t lose anything else and my neurotic thoughts of our iMac computer getting damaged were all for naught. Norwegian Airlines was a dream to fly and we slept most of the flight. Look at all that glorious legroom in premium class!

We arrived a Charles de Gaulle airport much later than I planned so we didn’t have time to go to dinner. I was so happy to go through customs easy, peasy. It took me so many long, stressful months to get those French visas and I wanted to kiss the agent who stamped them!

We were exhausted and terribly hot (check out my hair!!) by the time we found the rental car place. Luckily, I got a cool English-speaking dude who hooked us up with a minivan that fit all our ridiculous luggage. I have to say Thank You to my Mommy for giving us bungee cords! We wouldn’t have been able to go anywhere with all this luggage without them and they really came in handy when we were packing the van.

I was surprised that I liked the rental car we got this time. Even though minivans aren’t cool at all, I was grateful it was an automatic transmission, with heated seats. I could plug my phone to play my music and I set up the driving navigation. I was also happy for the rear camera because parking here is no joke. It’s like a crazy game of Tetris fitting all our luggage in the van. Driving in Paris is no different than LA other than the dreaded roundabouts. Those were definitely tricky because it becomes a Mad Max battle and it took me almost killing us several times before I understood how to navigate them. Antz needed a Xanax to calm him down from the crazy motorcycles drivers in the city.

I can’t believe I drove down the famous Champs Elysees! Of course, we had to promise to take Liv to Ladurée for some macaroons but she politely declined to go on the ferris wheel.

The apartment we are exchanging for two months is lovely. I am putting together a post about it soon. It’s a small studio with a toilette I fit in by a mere inch but it’s warm and cozy and the bed is heaven! I love that she lives on a private street so I could park anywhere for free! We have already done so much in a short amount of time here, I can’t wait to share all the photos we have taken.

But of course she sparkled just for us as we drove by!

Je’taime Paris. We are so happy to finally be here!

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.

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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.

Our Bathroom Remodel

Oct 25, 2017

We have lived with an embarrassingly ugly bathroom for eleven years so it was overdue for a remodel. I disliked our old dusty rose shower tile and matching cast iron tub so much that I didn’t take many photos of it. However, I did post our bathroom when we re-tiled the floor in 2011. Liv gets a week off from school in October for “ski week” so we skied off to my Mom’s house while poor Antz was stuck at home without a bathroom for seven days. Luckily, he survived with the help of friends and family. After going through thousands of photos I somehow found one shot of our pink tub in action.

Our kid loves bubble baths. We both laugh at how hideous our taste was when we first bought our house back in 2006. Orange and lime walls looks so juvenile but I thought I was rad with my Jonathan Adler Seven Sins bathroom set. I still have that shower curtain for some strange reason.

We attempted on our first DIY home remodel project when Liv was just under a year old, installing tile on the bathroom floor and painting the room grey. It only took about four days (two for work and two for drying) and I thought we did a pretty good job however, the pink tub and shower wall constantly annoyed me.

The new tile floor was an improvement, but the pink tile shower wall and tub stayed hidden by our shower curtain of shame. I originally planned to remodel our bathroom last October when we remodeled the living room but an unexpected new air conditioner system caused us to go over budget which meant we had to postpone it. By the time we were ready to start the bathroom job my friend Rene was no longer available. He’s so busy with other jobs I would have to wait until next year and I couldn’t wait any longer. It took awhile but I found a replacement contractor. The guy we found was reasonable and nice but he doesn’t compare to Rene. It was extremely stressful because I was away for a majority of the project and Antz was at work most of the day. The workers didn’t speak English and drove us crazy making little, sloppy mistakes. So unlike me but, I forgot to take a before picture the morning they started working but you see how it looked above.

After demo, we discovered that most of the wood in the walls was rotten and needed replacing. The demo took no time at all but one of the workers checked the floor and… surprise!

Wheee! Look at those lovely black holes. Turns out we aren’t the greatest contractors we thought we were. The shower was leaking water under the tile floor for years and the subfloor was rotten. As every house project, our unexpected expense showed up right on time. I was just looking at buying a glass door for the shower but new floors were priority. I was preparing myself for a huge estimate because my guy wouldn’t give me a price but after two days of holding my breath, it turned out to be much less than I thought. Whew! Antz bought affordable floor tile and the project added two more days for the floors to dry. The workers installed new floor joists, every 4 inches and now you can breakdance on the floor without falling through.

I was so happy the walls were open so I could finally build a much needed shelf to hold our shampoo and stuff! It’s huge, I can fit my giant size bottles and no more falling bottles from the bathtub ledge.

Buh Bye pink tub!!

Hello new, straight floor! Shout out to Antz for choosing a classic style of tile that fits our 1923 house so well. One of my favorite elements of our bathroom is changing the paper in our medicine cabinet. This is a cute way to add color for less than ten bucks. I used this lovely wrapping paper from my friend Samantha Santana rad wallpaper shop. Her amazing home was just featured on Design Sponge.

Those Jonathan Adler orange lacquer tumblers are still hanging around along with Antz CK One cologne. We decided to squeeze a new sink/vanity into our budget after seeing how beat up our old sink looked. Ikea had this Hemnes two drawer sink that fit in our small space and provided us more storage. I found these cute rabbit knobs on sale at Anthropologie.

We chose black for our walls to contrast all the white tile and trim. I am so happy to finally have a wall-mounted mirror to use in the shower. We previously had a mirror with suction cups from Target and it would fall in the middle of the night and scare the heck out of us! I stayed up until 1 am when I came home, putting everything away and editing our toiletries. It’s insane how much junk you amass in ten years! I threw away half full bottles of shampoo and only added the essentials.

I love our new shower tile so much it took me three days to put up the shower curtain. We took down the old toys on the shelf and added these quirky planters from Anthro. I need to go plant shopping soon. I also bought a new pretty toilet paper holder. I’m happy to have such a grown up bathroom to display my Unicorn poop spray!

I ordered this flush mount light at the last minute when I saw how awful or our old light looked. It was $50 from Lowes and similar to the fancy ones over at Schoolhouse Electric. All these house projects has taught me how to make quick decisions and work with a limited budget. The finishing touch is a piece of artwork. I love art of Emily Winfield Martin but Antz is concerned about the print holding up to the moisture in the bathroom. So we are waiting to find something waterproof.

That first shower I took was pure heaven. We finally have a showerhead that we fit our tall asses under. I love our new bronze fixtures and the clean, white tub.

Here’s the finished Salle de Bain, everything including labor was a little over $4,000!