She's taken unproductivity to new highs (or lows).

In the 90's there was this music movement called "shoe-gazing". It was all durgey guitar, heavy bass and (mostly male) lead singers singing slowed-down vocals about lost love, going nuts or being bored. I loved everything about it. As much as I think I'm active, active, active I'm actually a bit of a lazy bones. Every morning is a battle between my slothy-self and my vain self that says things like "get out of bed right now and put on some leggings and go do some exercise!!! If you don't you'll have to buy all new, bigger pants and that's going to get very expensive AND be soul destroying!!!" This voice usually wins.

When I was younger, I was a bit chubby and my incredibly vain and very un-chubby dad had no problem reminding me of this fact. For the longest time, the first question out of his mouth when he'd call me on the phone was "have you been going to the gym." Yes, I would say in between gulps of cheap wine, bread, cheese and olives (even at my worst I tried to keep a semblance of decorum by always eating like I was at a cocktail party....too bad I drank like I was at one as well).

Anyway, I fight my inner sloth everyday. Sometimes I appease her and do things like loll on my bed and read back-to-back magazines for hours. The subtle waft of the perfume samples as I turn the pages, the beautiful pics of models in awkward poses wearing expensive clothes, the ridiculous "self-help" articles about fighting age, breast cancer, gluten and static cling. It's like a vitamin B shot for my spirit somehow.

I think she's onto something....

I love this little Mongolian girl. I love her hands, I love her face, I especially love her outfit but, most of all, I love her spirit. I keep this on my desktop and open it when I'm feeling a touch on the low end because it lifts me up. It reminds me that we are born with a crazy amount of hope in hearts and an excitement for life that often seems to get squashed down by the day to day of just trying to be a responsible adult.

I imagine me meeting her for tea, in some beautiful tent in the middle of the desert. Of course there would be cookies and she's tell me about her life, her pet camel and give me her thoughts on life, the universe and everything in that magical way that only small children can see.

Sweet girl, I hope you stay like this for the rest of your life. Big kiss.

Oh Bollocks to Scary Things

Some people are great with fear, face it head on like a champ! Me? Well, I'd rather hide out under a duvet, bedspread, pillows and a pile of trashy magazines. It's funny the things that scare me. I seem to have no problem deciding to move cross country with nothing more than clothes in a suitcase, yet, if I have to do something like show up at an spinning class for the first time, I am wracked with panic. The standard question I usually ask myself is "what if I die?!?!?!".

So I think the fear today is because I'm going on a date. That means I have to be charming, suck my stomach in,  not bite my nails and not shove too much food in my mouth ALL-AT-ONCE!!!! That's a lot to ask of a girl. Actually, I have impeccable manners....literally, you can take me anywhere (except for a spinning class apparently). My parents used to make my brother and I curtsey and bow respectively  when we were little and introduced to adults. It was cool until I won some award in fourth grade, got up in front of my whole school to accept said award, curtsied, and was immediately given the label of "dag", which is Australian for "loser. It's also, the word for the piece of poop that dangles off the sheep's butt. So there you have it. Wish me luck.

The Bright Stuff

A friend gave me flowers today and said that she like talking with me because I have lots of technicolor thoughts and ideas. That's about the best compliment I've ever received.

A little wisdom.

You can get happy in the same shoes you got sad in.

We are all in the gutter.....

....but some of us are looking at the stars. Thank you Oscar Wilde. I had a sad day, the type of sadness that lives like ball in your stomach, slowly throbs up into your throat and silently escapes out of your tear ducts at in opportune moments.
It's because I liked someone and they didn't have the guts to like me back in the way I wanted to be liked. It's been a while since I liked someone, i finally let my heart step out onto the high-wire. We (my heart and I) were just about to take a hold of the trapeze swing and really go for it! It was gonna be great!
Instead we lost our footing and went crashing down into the safety net, where we've laid all day staring up at the stars. In honor of my celestial, melancholy gazing I wore these most amazing leggings, that I had shipped from Australia, because that's what girls like me do, when we feel blue.

Orange you glad it's Sunday!

Even though I wouldn't call myself a "domestic goddess" I do like to surround myself with beautiful domestic things. In my daily life I run a store called Yolk in the delicious area of Silverlake in LA. I buy what I like, make the place look gorgeous and, well, so far so good. Above are the new dinner plates that we just got in from Iittala. The table runner is a rough linen one that I found when I was in Stockholm last year. There's just something about the color combo of the bright turquoise and apricot orange that makes me happy. Luckily I don't cook so I don't have go cluttering up these gorgeous dishes with anything resembling a home cooked meal.