High/Low Style

They should make blinders for Target like they do for carriage horses; that way I wouldn't go in needing to buy paper towels and walk out 2 hours later with 3 shirts, a new pair of shoes, towels, a yoga mat, and 2 DVDs (sans paper towels).

I'm not into politics. I'm into survival.

I can't help myself...Target is just so full of damn cute stuff. Particularly fun is when they have guest designers or curators--high-end brands who do a collaboration with Target to cater to the masses. Do 40-year-old moms in middle America care about Prabal Gurung or Derek Lam? Probably not. Do I? Who knows. All I know is that on my last quick Target trip to buy cat food right before the holiday season, I got very distracted by a silver Marc Jacobs pouch purse, a Diane Von Furstenberg dress, Band of Outsiders cookie cutters, for Pete's sake, a Derek Lam skateboard, and what we've all been waiting for, an Oscar de la Renta pet bowl.

I was somehow able to walk out without buying any of these things, but this caught my eye this week:

Target's partnering with modern furniture designer Blu Dot to create TOO, an affordable line of furniture for plebes like us! Granted, Blu Dot isn't prohibitively expensive for good-quality craftsmanship, but it does hover slightly above the levels that I can easily dole out money for. Not everything is a clear hit in the line, but there are enough cute things in their line that it's worth taking a second look.

For example, I love the bright yellow and dove grey on this TOO lounger, and the clean lines of the steel against the blocky cushion. It's a mere $220 (on sale from $299). Beat that, Ikea!

And how about this sideboard? I'm loving the whitened birch and the aqua sliding door. Again, so clean and simple, and only $225 on sale (regularly $299). We coud use this in our entry way by the front door.

Once I get rid of the huge monster of an '80s desk in my office, I'd love to have something bright and bold like this steel yellow TOO table. Nothing like a pop of color to fix my home decor humdrums. It's only $245 (on sale from $349). Imagine all the novels I'd write if I had this color desk to sit at to drum up my creativity.

Compare this to a similar table that's a graphic pop of color on Blu Dot's site that's currently going for $699.

I currently hate our living room couches and am dreaming up my next sofa, which I want to be modern and simple, yet comfortable. I love the clean, modern lines of this TOO couch. Very mid-century mod. Can't you just picture it in Don Draper's office? This baby is only $449! Unheard of outside of Ikea.

And compare it to a similar Blu Dot couch (not on Target), at regular price: $1,699. I think I might actually prefer the Target version's design (though the Blu Dot one looks slightly more comfy).

 This TOO trio accent table is uber cute at $75 (normally $99)...

...and reminiscent in design (though not as beautiful) to a trio table being sold on Blu Dot's site for $400:

 I LOVE this TOO office chair. It's like R2D2 lived in the Mad Men era ($220, normally $299):

I also love its unpadded cousin in walnut ($180, normally $249). So sleek and clean and modern, yet warm with its wood tones:

Here is his fancier (and arguably prettier) cousin on the Blu Dot site, going for $799:

These TOO pieces are only available online via Target.com only, so luckily you can avoid picking up two bathmats, a new dress, stationery, and bulk-size Cheez-its while looking for it in store.

The Big Chill

We've been having a spate of what my friend Raza and I like to call "Boo Radley weather"-- dead leaves swirling at your feet, brisk wind nipping at your ears, the smell of wood-burning fireplaces aloft in the cold air--except in Los Angeles, our version has giant hunks of palm trees strewn about the street and people looking ridiculous in winter parkas and snow hats. Which led to this piece of brilliance:

It's true. Living in Los Angeles thins your blood and knocks every bit of East Coast-bred Chicago-living cold-weather survivor instinct out of you. I remember a time in Chicago when I walked to campus when it was 70 degrees below zero with the windchill. 70 BELOW. My nose hairs and eyelashes would freeze with little icicles on them, like Jack Nicholson at the end of The Shining.

The view out our back window in the East Coast.

I've gone soft, I guess, but I'm probably the only one around here who also enjoys this sort of weather -- it reminds me of my childhood days in the East Coast, snuggling back into bed when school was cancelled by a snowstorm, smelling the wood burning in the fireplace, wearing boots and sweaters to brunch with my girlfriends and sipping hot chocolate from City Bakery on the west side of NYC. There was the horrific side of it too--like weirdly enjoying being blasted by the hot, polluted exhaust from a passing city bus just because it warmed you up a little bit. This weird LA version of cold--with crappy Uggs, palm trees incongruous in the sunny horizon,  swimming pools still uncovered--It's not right. Just not right. It leaves me feeling chilly but has no "cozy" in it at all.

Yeah, yeah, you're pretty, LA, but you ain't cozy.

So here are some of my sad attempts to cozify the home to make it feel more like a wintry haven and to recapture that Boo-Radley-ness of the East Coast cold.

Make your bed cozy.

You spend half your life in bed, so it may as well be a comfortable little slice of heaven. Snuggly comforter, floaty curtains, calming colors, and a view of our garden makes it easy for me to stay in bed underneath the warm covers.

Roooowr! Furry alarm clock

A warm landing pad.

This super-soft flokati rug from Design Within Reach does the trick for warming up your feet by the fake fireplace. It can double duty by the bedside, making the mornings a little easier to step into, or triple duty as a throw on a chair.

Steaming hot tea.

Nothing better than curling up with a book and nice hot cup of chai while the police sirens wind is howling outside. Anthropologie mugs courtesy wedding registry. 

Snuggle up with warm bodies.

Preferably with a few SAG screeners to watch.

I started off this post meaning to make some sort of uplifting statement about how to get cozy in LA's winter chill, and I realized at the end I haven't done such a good job. What are your favorite ways to get warm and cozy in LA's cold weather?

How to Cheat a Stress-Free Dinner Party

The Martha Stewart in me wants to throw all sorts of fetes, in which I, clad in a colorful Anthropologie apron, cook up some five-star, multi-course meal to my guests at a beautifully adorned dining table, preferably on the back veranda of my villa in Tuscany. Since that's probably not gonna happen anytime soon, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. My ingredients? A tiny apartment, not enough table space, and a bunch of enthusiastic eaters.

1. Find an excuse.

My friend Kai was the social vortex of many of my friends here in the LA writers/filmmakers/artists/activists community, and since she moved to NYC I've seen them much less. When she came back to visit for the holidays, it was the perfect excuse to get drunk get crunk have a civilized party.

Cheers!

2. Scam a chef friend into doing all the cooking.

Usually, if I'm cooking for friends at my place, I end up frazzled and running around with an uncooked chicken in my hands, unable to focus on hosting and cooking alike. Our friend John, chef at fine dining establishments and king of the Annual Arroz Caldo Cookoff!, volunteered to manhandle (aka, mandle) the food. To be fair, I didn't entirely scam him. He got a brand new shiny cast iron grill pan out of the offer!
Here's the menu he designed...

Kai Ma Brings People Together ®

3. Recycle, repurpose, reuse!

Boy did all those months of wedding planning come in handy. Now I'm a bastion of useless knowledge about table settings and proper etiquette. We had all these leftover thank you notes, so we ended up repurposing them as place cards. Out came my Box-o'-Crafts from the wedding. Markers, glue guns, ink, stamps. Out came the extra napkins, linens, vases, candle votives...

Kai made some seating arrangements to avoid that awkward "ummm where do I sit?" moment where everyone's just hovering over the table and trying not to sit next to a dud.*

*No duds at this party, thankyouverymuch.

4. Manage the kitchen.

By which I mean "Hover over the chef and sneak bites of food when he's not looking."

Mmmmmmmm, brined pork.

5. Set the table.

We watched some Youtube videos to figure out how to create a pocket fold for our napkin to hold the silverware.



After some failed attempts... ta da!

Mismatched chairs? Can't notice when everyone's sitting down.



We also ran out of space. With 14 guests, what can ya do but start crowding into the living room?

 6. Mingle.

Open bottles of wine, eat some cheese, offer people drinks.

Note to husband: Don't bump head on overhead dining light, busting a fuse and turning off all the lights  and the stove in the kitchen.*

*We got a new chandelier out of it from our landlord, so win/win us.

7. Serve and protect.

Or just serve. As host/sous chef, it was my duty to help the kitchen dish out...the dishes.
First course: The most delicious, rich, umami butternut squash soup I've ever had (and believe, I have had LOTS of butternut squash soup in my day, I'll tell you whut), with crispy lardons and pumpkin seeds. What are lardons, you say? Bacon. Friggin BACON, in SOUP. I know, right? [Head explode]

I was already full by the time I finished my soup, but we still had our main course coming up: big-ass juicy pork chop over maple yam puree and sauteed brussels sprouts, crimini mushrooms, and golden potatoes. Isn't that just autumnlicious? Best yam puree of my life, and I don't take yam puree lightly. I am Taiwanese, you know.

Speaking of Taiwanese, I'm not normally a pork-eater (high school vegetarian habits die hard), but this pork really won me over. Tender, perfectly seasoned...Gasp! I felt like Anton Ego, with one bite transported back to my childhood days of frolicking in the French countryside eating mom's delicious pork chops at our kitchen table.

Lastly, dessert: In the holiday spirit, Chef John decided to educate us on what we'd all been singing mindlessly about all these years: "Now bring us some figgy pudding, now bring us some figgy pudding..." What the hell is figgy pudding?

Plating said figgy pudding.

This deliciousness:

Vintage dish "junk" courtesy Rose Bowl.

To be clear, this was figgy pudding soaked in rum, topped with a rum creme anglaise and a huge branches of mint (that was my and Kai's fault). It was sort of like a bread pudding, and you're supposed to light it on fire, but I didn't want our house to burn down in some sort of fiery inferno. Pretty sure my hangover the next morning was solely due to dessert.

There you have it. Fourteen of us, stuffed to the gills with good food, good wine, and good company, all for the cost of dinner for two. Not too shabby.

Through the Looking Glass

Huzzah! We finally got our official wedding photos back from our lovely & very talented friend and photographer, Rebecca Fishman. My favorite part about looking at these photos--aside from seeing all the moments captured on that day--was the DIY details. Most people probably didn't notice the color of the vases or the stamps on the bag, but it gave me some satisfaction knowing my month-long searches through thrift shops and flea markets and eBay and Etsy had come to fruition at last, dammit!

Here are a few of my faves. All photos are by Rebecca Fishman.

Our groomsmen's boutonnieres: crespedia (billy buttons), blue eryngium, succulents, and seeded eucalyptus, wrapped in lamb's ear.

My bridesmaids' dresses were all the same infinity dress (purchased from a dressmaker off Etsy) tied different ways. Note my mom's 40-year-old wedding veil, which I cleaned and glue-gunned back to tip-top shape.

Can't take credit for this one, but I just love that big-ass rock and the towering ents trees around us.

My little nephew ringbearer. Note adorable grey hipster Sperry Docksiders, which I thought would be much more comfortable than kid dress shoes.

These flowers doubled as aisle bouquets and table arrangements. They included many of the same flowers as the boutonnieres, plus ranunculus, lisianthus, scabiosa pods, geranium leaves, and I forgot what those long green thingies are. The mason jars were bought on Craigslist and tinted with glass paint by me and my mom, as you may remember from this post.

The ceremony took place in the bones of an old greenhouse, overlooking a canyon.

My amazing bridesmaid Shianling hand-sewed this ring pillow in the likeness of my spoiled cat Pilsen. Kinda creepy, lots of awesome. Rowr!

Yay! We're a Mr. and Mrs. now. Exiting to the Beach Boys' "Wouldn't It Be Nice."

One of our thrifted Pennsbury Pottery succulents and vintage books as decor for our cocktail hour. Note delish crostini in the back (which I missed, dammit!).

We saved some money by using ecofriendly bamboo plates for cocktail hour at the crostini station provided by our caterer and granddaddy of the lasagna cupcake, Heirloom LA.

Part of our crostini station...can't believed I missed this nomnom while we were taking photos...

Our BBQ pork sliders on ciabatta. Glugglgguguguugaglugugggg (that's the sound of drooling)...

 

Instead of traditional numbers, our table signs were cities that we had each lived in at some point in our lives. Eight of them were painstakingly created by Alex's mom, who is a fantastic artist and does these awesome collages. Each strip of paper was sourced from materials from our lives in those cities--old letters, programs, favorite books, scripts, etc.

To supplement our table arrangements that did double-time as aisle bouquets, we also used vintage-y bud vases and medicine bottles.

Those DIY honey jars came into use as more than favors that get thrown away! Because of the wind, our friend/wedding coordinator extraordinaire Sara used them as place card holders-weight-thingies-that-don't-blow-away. She also designed the menu, which was folded into the farmhouse-style napkin.

The lights flicked on as the sun began to set and the guests got drunk nursed their strawberry fixes by the pool...

Please note our Han Solo / Princess Leia cake toppers. Ahem. We also placed old family photos around the dessert table to remind us of ... our ancestry?

Our DIY photo booth. We used Sara's polaroid camera and threw a bunch of props on the table for people to use. That hat is from an acting class assignment where I played Annie Hall. [Not seen: vest, tie, and tennis racket]

...and this was our photo booth backdrop. I'd originally bought the paper pom poms to use as arch decor for the ceremony, but we ended up hanging most of them here. Sara ingeniously fastened some flood lights from Home Depot too to brighten up the area.

Feasting at dusk...like vampires.

who's got more lasagna cupcakes?

I love this photo. I mean, c'mon, everybody's clapping for us! No, actually I just love seeing our mishmash of friends and family in the same photo.

The groom's dad makes his speech. Again, I love seeing everybody's expressions in the audience.

My aunt and cousin using my hand-stamped dessert take-home bags! Yeeeaaaah! Those chocolate chip toffee and sea salt cookies in the foreground were the BizNess!!

regret pie

Ding ding ding ding! Kiss! Kiss!

The ol' balls and chains

And they lived happily ever after. Now that I've thoroughly exhausted all wedding-related stuff, I'm going to turn this blog back toward its original aim, hardcore nudity!  designing/nesting in your first home!

Giving Thanks

I'm grateful this year for my beloved family, friends, and a husband who's helped LA become home to me.