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!

I’ll add more photos when we get the art, or maybe a vintage shelf? Hmmm, see how great I am at making up my mind?!

À bientôt.

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).

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!

Ojai Meadows Preserve

Mar 28, 2016

All the flowers! Every year I seem to miss the spring flower explosion that occurs in Antelope Valley. I was monitoring the California poppy’s bloom schedule this year and was bummed to find out the storm we had last month killed the flowers in the valley. The other location to find wildflower fields was in Death Valley which is three hours in the middle of nowhere. It didn’t sound like the fun road trip I had in mind so I was stoked to hear that wildflowers were in full bloom in nearby Ojai. The Ojai Meadows Preserve is only an hour and a half drive from LA and no hiking in hundred degree weather to see them.

Liv and I were in flower heaven but I was also thinking “Please don’t let there be snakes in here!”

Ojai has a great park that Liv was dying to play at, so we stopped by on our way back home.

I couldn’t see adding this crazy merry-go-round in our small park. We saw a bunch of kids fall down while pushing it and other kids came close to trampling the fallen kid. Even I thought the spinning metal cages were dangerous. Yet, I can’t help but feel proud of how badass my kid is!

I really would love this modern swing (which can fit a few kids at once) in our York Park. It’s much safer and comfortable than our generation’s old tire swing.

Ojai Meadows Preserve is located just north of or adjacent to the Nordhoff High School football stadium. To get there, take Highway 33 west (towards Maricopa) from the Highway 150/33 intersection at the Rotary Community Park. Go past the high school and the stadium, turn left at the next break in the highway’s dividing island, park in the little parking lot or along the curb.

I recommend taking the Highway 150/Santa Paula route which is less crowded and much more scenic than the 101 freeway.

Due to California’s drought, I’d recommend getting there soon before the flowers wither and die!

Photos of Paris

Feb 2, 2016

I was going through my photos yesterday and realized there are so many photos I took during my trip to visit Aimee last March that I never uploaded. For example, Aimee and I spent an afternoon in the Latin Quarter and Ile de la cité which is the island that houses Notre-Dame Cathedral. Back on our first trip to Paris, we climbed over 250 steps in a narrow spiral to the top so we could see the bell tower. We aren’t as limber as we were in our 20s so I took photos of the exterior of the cathedral to see it from a different angle.

I can’t believe I never blogged about our favorite place to eat! Aimee’s apartment was right around the corner from the best restaurant in le Marais, Cafe Charlot.

We ate there so often we became regulars and I am kicking myself for forgetting our sweet waiter’s name.

I felt contractually obligated to take my Bestie on a tour of Pere Lachaise cemetery. It was still crowded even though the weather was much colder than our visit in June.

I plan to be cremated when I go but if I could, I would love to be buried here in such a magical place.

I was able to get a better shot of Jim Morrison’s grave.

I took this gorgeous shot at sunrise on my last day in Paris. It was so bittersweet. I was so sad to be leaving my absolute favorite place on Earth but I missed my Antz and Liv terribly. They really were the only reason I came back to LA!

On my way back home, I was overwhelmed by the beauty of Charles de Gaulle airport. This trip really allowed me the freedom to open my eyes and take in every little detail without having to tend to a five year old or a grumpy, luggage toting hubby. I first traveled to Charles de Gaulle airport back in 1997 when Antz and I took our first trip together to Venice, Italy, that I won on the Price is Right. I remember not being too impressed back then but we were only there for a layover. I had just enough time to buy some postcards but I did get a killer view of the Eiffel Tower from our plane. I’ll never forget during our flight from Paris to Italy we had a delay due to wild rabbits on the runway!

I love how many European airports are old in age, yet have been modernized in a beautiful way. Hint, hurry up with that upgrade LAX!

I spent two hours in the airport wandering around before my flight and was excited to see Ladurée! Every time I have visited Paris I have wanted to go to the shop on Champs Elysées. I’m not a huge macaron fan but they are so pretty and it’s such a Parisian delicacy that I want to buy some just for the pretty package. I didn’t have any Euros on me so I just window shopped this time but the store reminds of Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette.

I can’t put into words how eager I am to take our next trip. This slide at a park in Gothenburg, Sweden has our names written all over it!

A Piano in the house

Jan 28, 2016

Growing up in the golden age of awesome television commercials during the 1980’s has left me with a catalog of catchy jingles. If you lived in Southern California you were graced with this Colton’s piano song

Well, who would have thought that someone in my Facebook Mom’s group was giving away a beautiful upright piano and I was lucky number one to claim it?! I hired piano movers and it came into our home within a week.

The best part is my next door neighbor is a keyboardist for the band Sea Wolf. She is so talented and cool so I called her and asked if she would give Liv weekly lessons. How amazing that everything came aligned in just one week?! I have wanted a vintage piano since we bought our house but I was sure it would cost a fortune. Another concern was where the heck was it going to fit in our small space? The night before it was scheduled to arrive I shoved our bookcase into another spot, dispersed a few things throughout the house and moved some boxes of photos into our garage and… Voila, it fit like a glove!

I am so fortunate to have this lovely piano present itself into our lives!

I played piano for two years as a child so I’m proficient but definitely rusty.

Liv has a keyboard that she learned her scales on but I am hoping she will learn how to play songs from the Amelie soundtrack.

I did some research on our new piano and the brand is Hobart M. Cable which was founded in 1900 in Indiana. The company made upright pianos until the 1960s. The company was purchased by a Korean company in the 1990s so my piano has history.

I am guessing ours was made in 1951 based on photos I’ve seen of other Cable pianos with the same spindle legs as ours. I hope to find out our piano’s birthday and possibly more information when we have a professional come over to tune it. I resisted the urge to paint it yellow because of it’s age and the wood has grown on me in the last few days.

I’m thinking of christening her as Penelope the piano for no other reason other than I want to tell Olivia “Hey, go play Penny!”

Olivia’s Big Kid Bedroom Makeover

Dec 11, 2015

The time has come for my bebe to graduate from a nursery to a kid’s room. It was weird to see her giant body cram into her toddler bed every night so we figured it was time to makeover her room. Plus her Yo Gabba Gabba toys were taking up too much space on the tiny bed.

Let me keep it real, her room was overloaded with stuff! We cleared out a ton of old toys, clothes that no longer fit and clutter when we did our Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up weekend during the summer. Tip to any parents who may want to do the same, send your kids away so they can’t interfere with the clean up. Liv has been known to hoard birthday party favors (I call them junk toys) and dig them out of the recycle bin! I have bought baskets, bins and bookshelves to store Liv’s things and no matter how much I donate, her room still looks like a toy store exploded. The best piece of wisdom I read in the Tidying book was that the more storage solutions we purchase to control our stuff, the more clutter we create. If something is not useful or pretty, get rid of it. This is why I am planning to do less toy shopping next year (more on that soon!)

I asked my creative director hubby to lend his talents to help me visualize my design in a mood board. The theme was white and birch with a dash of pink. I was inspired by these Miffy-themed rooms I found on Pinterest. I was worried that the room was looking too beige and boring so I added more color in the accessories. I kept the glider because it’s my favorite place to sit and read her stories and it’s such a great chair. We also couldn’t part with the handmade mobile Antz made for her nursery, she’ll have it forever. It did break my heart to get rid of the kitchen (after only two years) but it was collecting dust and she didn’t play with it that often.

This was before we chose a wall color

Liv has been wanting bunk beds so she could have sleepovers. That was my main focus of the room. I wanted to find a bed that wasn’t made of metal and she could climb up without giving me a heart attack. I originally wanted to stick with the Oeuf brand and almost bought this Perch bunk bed but it was too large for her tiny room.

I will definitely reconsider getting it when she’s a few years older and I finally get rid of the brown chair. Hopefully, I’ll have a larger house by then!

Her walls could use a new color. Gone is the orange/cream and brown nursery palette. As most little girls are, Liv is an avid fan of pink, so we found a princess pink (that wasn’t too obnoxious) for the majority of the room.

I love the black paint trend but since it’s a kid’s room we chose one wall for chalkboard paint so she can have some creative fun.

I bought two Michael Sowa prints (from my fave movie) a few years ago. I intended to hang them in our bedroom but there isn’t enough wall space so they sat rolled up. I thought it would be cool to give Liv’s new room some new art so we searched for frames that were similar to the movie. We heard Aaron Bros was having a major Black Friday sale so we checked it out but they did not have a large selection of gold frames. We found one that was perfect for the Dog in Cone but I really wanted an old, ornate frame for the Fowl with Pearls.

Luckily, I had a trick up my sleeve and his name is Antz. He is the master of finding treasures on the cheap. He searched all Thanksgiving weekend with no luck. Then he sent me a photo of the steal of the century.

The frame looked like he stole it directly from Amelie’s apartment and he only paid $12!! I spent more on the prints than the frames. Yay!

So next was a trip to Ikea. I am always wary of their furniture because of their well-know reputation for not being the most sturdy. However, I was interested in the Kura bed because of it’s low height, versatility and popularity for Ikea hacks found on Pinterest. The price was so reasonable and I can style it so many different ways, I didn’t hesitate.

Olivia approved

Once again, I scored a great deal on Cyber Monday shopping on adorable bedding from Typo Shop. It was perfect timing since I now have to buy bedding in pairs for the bunk beds.

Liv has began reading by herself so I wanted to create a nook for her to be comfy. We found a darling reading lamp at Ikea and I ordered a strand of Brightlab lights in peony pinks for a pop of color. I bought a book ledge from Land of Nod and it turned out so cute, now I wish I bought two.

I had a terrible time finding the right rug. Antz was adamant about not getting anything too light and he wanted something soft that she could lay on. Yet my picks were either too expensive or made of scratchy material. I was excited to attend the Lulu & Georgia Pop Up shop in West Hollywood. I’ve been wanting their Elodie rug forever but even the sale price tag stings. $$$

I fell hard for the sweet pink Elodie rug and I was already headed to the cashier to buy it when I realized, it really was too expensive for a kid’s room and it was a high maintenance rug. I still want it for our bedroom but I had to be an adult and not throw a tantrum on the floor.

Even though they had all my favorite things and lovely Eliza Gran baskets on sale, I left empty-handed. We are prioritizing our travel budget now so I needed to find something within our budget. Back to Ikea we went and picked out a reasonably priced neutral rug that I won’t feel terrible if it needs replacing at some point. Plus a sheepskin rug is the best solution for coziness.

We bought a larger shelf unit for her books and hide her dress-up clothes and tea party dishes in baskets. The Kallax unit was a perfect fit on the chalkboard wall.

Antz installed a floating shelf to display her My Little Pony and P.O.P. toy collection (which is getting out of hand, although I admit, I am guilty of adding new ones when I can’t resist the cuteness!)

I tried to contain the kid’s avalanche of toys as best as I could. She does have some pretty awesome stuff though.

She enforces a strict no no shoes policy in her new room. I am smitten with the pink cheeky Yeti & Friends monster who resides over her bed.

The piece de resistance is this adorable petit biscuit pillow made by French designer Annabel Kern which plays music from Amelie!

I must say, for such a small space this is a dreamy kid’s room. My husband deserves all the credit for making my concept come to life. He worked tirelessly to have the room finished so Liv could have her first sleepover this weekend. I have a few more finishing touches to work on (I’m waiting for the photo to be printed for the oval frame and I am searching everywhere for this Miffy cushion) but I am so pleased with the outcome. At the rate she’s growing, we’ll have to give her our bedroom soon!

Portlandia Day Two

Sep 9, 2015

Our second day in Oregon was incredible. We enjoyed lovely, mildly warm weather. We loved the food, the friendly vibes and the gorgeous nature everywhere you look! I swear we walked into a living Subaru commercial.

Friendliest cat we’ve ever met

Olivia snapped this awesome photo

I did some research for our trip and I found out that Portland is all about that brunch.

I had so many great options to choose from but when I saw Slappy Cakes on the Food Network I knew we had to try it! Story & Chris have been wanting to go there too but there is always a crazy long wait. We checked out a cool vintage video store while we waited to be called. It’s ridiculous how many great movies we’ve missed in theaters because we don’t go as often, but when faced with thousands of DVDs to choose from, all we could decide on is The SpongeBob Movie for Liv and Veda.

We parked near a food truck lot. There are incredible food trucks (and trailers) everywhere!

Brunch Time!

Here was my order, buttermilk pancakes and fresh blueberries

You guessed it, it’s a cook your own pancakes restaurant

https://player.vimeo.com/video/138588044 Slappy Cakes Portland from sunkissis on Vimeo.

Liv requested a snail, I ended up eating it

Obviously, this is my pancake, it broke during the flip

Pancakes de la Totoro for Antz

Our next stop was Multnomah Falls to take in the beautiful local nature.

Aren’t these photos insane? I didn’t have to edit anything.

I’m still in denial she’s five years old!

So pretty! I love this place.

We also checked out a fish hatchery where we saw a 100 year old sturgeon named Harold. We headed to downtown Portland for donuts at the popular tourist attraction, Voodoo Doughnuts.

We only had a few minutes on our parking meter and the line was ridiculous so we passed on buying anything. Story assured me she knew a better donut place closer to their house.

Every single thing that Carrie & Fred make reference to on Portlandia is 1,000% true!

We finished the day with dinner at McMenamins Kennedy School which is an old school renovated into a hotel, venue and restaurant. I heard they have an insanely beautiful soaking pool but it was closed to the public due to a private event. I took these photos of almost two year old Veda being adorable outside on the patio.

I can’t tell you how much I’ve missed our dear friends. So far we are convinced we are moving to Portland!

LA Cake Club & Hello Kitty Exhibit at the Japanese American National Museum

Oct 15, 2014

Hello friends, I’ve missed you! This weekend was a busy one. Liv’s school follows French curriculum so when they have holidays off, so does she. She’s on October break for a week. We went to Cake 🎂 Club this past Saturday. I missed the last one since we were in Europe so I missed everyone. I made pumpkin squares with cream cheese frosting. I was concerned about the recipe since I ran out of granulated sugar and substituted brown sugar but Antz thinks it made it taste even better. He loved them and devoured about 5 squares!

Here’s the recipe I used

Sara’s Mom made this beautiful cake

My sweet friend Ellen made this amazing Dutch waffle cheesecake

Honestly I always kick myself for not taking better/more photos at Cake Club but I’m usually stuffing my gob or chatting so much to remember.

Thanks for another fantastic cake club, Sara!

Liv and her Cake Club BFF ran around like Superheros all hopped up on sugar

My friends and I decided it was a good idea to head over to the Hello Kitty exhibit at the Japanese American National Museum after lunch since we were so close.