The Long and Short of It......

A Couple of great images form one of my other favorite blogs for Dachshundists...

http://dachshundlove.blogspot.com/

Ms. Crawford pampers one of her boys in 1939.

Love is a fire. But whether it is going to warm your hearth or burn down your house, you can never tell. ~Joan Crawford

Bundle Of Joy....

I think Ruby would feel this way if I had another baby HAHAHA!!!

Woodstock...

This was a photo taken by an unknown artist at Woodstock, how great is it to see the crowd all behind her just sitiing so calm and still... LOVE IT!

Biba and Barbara Hulanicki....

If you know me, then you know I LOVE fashion illustration! And I also love line drawings like these one's by Barbara Hulanicki, I wish I could draw like that! She has an amazing  life history and was also a very popular interior designer in the 60's and late 70 read the story below...

Born in Poland, but raised in England, Barbara Hulanicki began her career in Fashion in the early 1960's working as a freelance fashion illustrator covering all the important fashion collections for the major publications of the day, including Women's Wear Daily, British Vogue, the Times, the Observer and the Sunday Times. In 1964 she founded, with her late husband, Stephen Fitz-Simon, the boutique BIBA, beginning as a small mail-order business featured in the fashion columns of newspapers such as the DAILY MIRROR.

The Biba success story is worthy of a Hollywood movie: a husband and wife, Barbara Hulanicki and her partner, Stephen Fitz-Simon, go into business together against the advice of those around them. After a few false starts and refusing to give up, their last-ditched attempt -- a pink gingham dress with a round hole in the back and a matching head scarf -- strikes a chord with the public and sells thousands of units, allowing them to open a store which becomes an icon of hip 60's and 70's London. It becomes a hangout for artists, film stars and rock musicians, including Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones, David Bowie and Marianne Faithful among the regulars. The first Biba store was a small Chemist's shop in Abingdon Road, but by the time Biba's doors closed in 1976 it had evolved into an elaborate 5-story Art Deco department store with a restaurant and a roof garden overlooking High Street Kensington. The avant-garde BIBA cosmetics brand was being sold in 33 countries across the globe.
Biba finally closed its doors in 1976, a victim of corporate raiding before the term had even entered the business vernacular. Hulanicki continued to work in Fashion, designing for such fashion greats as Fiorucci and Cacharel and for twelve years, from 1980 to 1992, designed a successful line of children's wear, MINIROCK, licensed to the Japanese market.
In 1980, she returned to the UK from living in glamorous Brazil to open a series of clothing boutiques and start a make-up line, all under her own name. From 1980 to 1987, she dabbled in fashion photography for the London Evening Standard and returned briefly to fashion illustration to draw Sarah Ferguson's wedding dress for the London newspapers. In 1983 she wrote her memoirs in the book FROM A TO BIBA, which was published by Hutchinson's. In 1987 she arrived in Miami Beach where she reinvented herself yet again as a designer of interiors and exteriors, single-handedly reconceiving Miami Beach's then re-emerging Art Deco District. Her projects began with Woody's on the Beach, which she designed in 1987 for Ron Wood of the Rolling Stones. She created a series of restaurants, night clubs and super-clubs, including Who's in the Grove, Sempers, Match Club and Bolero Restaurant. From 1992 to 1997 she worked for Gloria and Emilio Estefan designing the interiors for their personal recording studios, the interiors of the Cardozo Hotel on Ocean Drive, their private home on Star Island, costumes for the music video "Mi Buen Amor", as well as consulting on BONGO, the Estefan's restaurant project in Disney World, Orlando, with the Architectonica Group.From 1990 to the present, Hulanicki has perhaps had the most impact on Miami Beach through her work for Chris Blackwell and his Island Outpost Group. She has twice reconceived the MARLIN Hotel, on Collins Avenue, as well as the CAVALIER Hotel, Ocean Drive, the LESLIE Hotel, Ocean drive, The NETHERLANDS building, Ocean Drive, and now the KENT on Collins Avenue. Other Caribbean properties she has designed for Blackwell include the COMPASS POINT Hotel and beach resort in Nassau, Bahamas - which is prominently featured in all the Bahamian Tourist Board television commercials - the PINK SANDS resort on Harbor Island, Bahamas. In 1993 Hulanicki won an award from the American Institute of Architects for her work on the NETHERLANDS, as well as an award from an association of Florida Architects. From 2001 to 2002 she worked on the Island life Ministore, located in the heart of Miami Beach on Ocean Drive. This unique shop was renovated completely by Hulanicki at owner Chris Blackwell's request. Coined as "tropical lux," this lifestyle store contained a large collection of gift items, music and film, jewelry and accessories from around the world. It also boasted men's, women's and children's apparel custom colored and designed by Hulanicki herself. Hulanicki's most recent projects have included private luxury homes on Palm Island and Dilido Island in Miami as well as several commercial properties, including the BEACH HOUSE on Harbor Island, Bahamas, as well as hotel development for Chris Blackwell's GOLDENEYE in Oracabessa, Jamaica. She has also delved back into product design, designing a home range for U.S. launch in 2008, as well as designing Wallpaper for HABITAT stores in the UK. The crowning achievement of Hulanicki's impact can be witnessed in the opening of the Hollywood hit movie "The Birdcage". A sweeping helicopter shot flows over the waves to zero in on the primary location for the film, the Cleveland Hotel on Ocean Drive which is flanked by no less than four Hulanicki-designed buildings - the Leslie, the Cardozo, the Cavalier and the Netherlands. Additionally, throughout her career, Hulanicki has designed costumes for several stage and film productions, including clothing for Cathy McGowan on the influential live TV rock show "READY STEADY GO" (1964), outfits for Julie Christie in "DARLING" (1965), costumes for local productions in Miami Beach, costumes for old friend and Biba model Twiggy for "CAPTAIN BEAKY" in London's West End and her Royal Command Performance in 1976.

SHOES OMG SHOES!!!!!

Depeche Mode tribute band BLASPHEMOUS RUMOURS .......

When my husband said that House of Blues would be featuring some bands that cover Depeche Mode, The Cure, and INXS, at first I thought there is no way, no one could cover them well! But then I watched the video and it looks like alot of fun. I have been to a Depeche Mode concert and have loved them forever! Can't wait, I already got my tickets YAY!!

Orbital - Halcyon On and On

One of my favorite electronic groups of all time is Orbital. This song Halcyon was great back when I was a raver! It brings back so many fun memories! But to find it in even more glory on Youtube is great! Here is a wonderful video montage of some of our planets most beautiful things, including time lapse photography and  wonderful places....LOVE THIS!!

Twin baby moose in sprinkler....

My Mother in Law sent this today, and I think it's one of the cutest things ever!

Before and After Dining Room....

So my wall decals arrived, and upon reading the instructions and preparing my dining room wall for application, the product itself was not as easy to apply. Not sure if the backing on the decal, during the long trip from Canada  got so sticky it would not come off? Or that the decals themselves were poorly manufactured. I have seen them applied many times on HGTV and it looked very easy to me! After about an hour of application, painstakingly smoothing the bubbles, and finally coming to the conclusion that they weren't sticking properly to the wall, we had to come up with a plan B. I decided I was going to try and think positive...at least we had the general shape we needed, why not make a stencil out of it and then paint the trees onto the wall. So that's what I did, and it came out pretty nice..... 

Jonah's Artwork....

The Before and Afters of My Living Room Makeover....

So we decided to get a new sofa, after the past couple of years with a growing (literally taller and bigger teenage boys) family, making it that more difficult for all of us to sit together and enjoy a movie or two, we started looking to see which style of sectional we wanted. Both of us wanted a very modern clean lined style, something mid century-ish (knockoff) not too fussy or frilly. And definitely not something puffy,or with cup holders EEEWWW!! My husband is always surprised at the cost of anything and since most of them cost upwards of around $2500 to $3000, once we started looking, the looking was soon halted after realizing the actual price for the sectional. We also needed very specific dimensions for our room since it is an open floor plan with a rectangular long shape, so now it's turning into something more custom and the price was going up even further. One afternoon Ben checked the mail and lo and behold IKEA had a sofa the dimensions (well pretty darn close) to what we needed for $899. Now that is pretty darn cheap if you ask me. Why so cheap you ask? Well because YOU get to put it together! So we ordered the sofa, and it arrived at our house in 5 large boxes. The great part about it, was that any idiot can put this thing together. The instructions were simple, they have a picture of a cartoon character guy, who step by step shows you with clear pointing arrows what bolts to put where etc.,and which tools (the tools are included) to use when they are needed. You can also purchase different styles of legs for this sofa, and different color slip covers.The hardest part was getting the slipcover on exactly where the seams go, because everything is Velcro it fits really snug tight, so I had to pull the Velcro to wrap around certain areas so there were no gaps in the fabric. Overall I would rate the sofa pretty high for being comfortable, as well as stylish, and the fact that I can buy another slip cover in a different color after a few years for $199 is pretty cool too! Here are the before and afters of our living room makeover.... 

Madames June 12th 2010...

This years Madames party was great! Alot of girls getting together and getting into the party spirit, dressing up, and taking multiple posed photos with our borrowed mascot peacock Scott (of course he was a real/ stuffed bird) who was the life of the party! Our theme was MuMu's and ghetto nails, and I think I was the only one wearing really long nails, which were a little difficult to manuever (thanks for helping me Sheri and Heather) especially when I had to take my invisalign out of my mouth HAHAHA! We enjoyed alovely afternoon outside and had some great appetizers too! Thanks everyone for a great day!

Azari & III + Tensnake

Azari & III + Tensnake

Love this song! This is a great happy dancefloor track!!

Great Pillows.....

After this past week looking high and low for some new pillows to summer-ize my living room, I got tired of looking everywhere and decided to check once again on Etsy, I found these and I love how vibrant and colorful the patterns are, this store also has fabric panels you can use as artwork. It's good to know you can still buy covers for pillows you already have, to spruce up the old ones that have been splattered with kid spit, and dog barf. Go to the link below to find them.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/46052573/2-new-handmade-contemporary-cotton-16 

Picnic with friends.....

 I went on a lovely picnic / bike ride today with my son and some friends to wonderful Coronado Island. We ate lunch which consisted of crab salad sandwiches on french rolls, with rice chips, hummus, grapes and some nice Pinot Grigio. We had a beautiful view of the city while sitting on a nice patch of grass very close to Peohe's. Afterwards we rode our bikes all the way around towards the bridge, underneath it and around the golf course. We discovered there was an open house....did we go in? Oh hell yes we did! It was a 4,000 sq ft. $4.4million dollar home. And of course the listing agent saw us ride up on our bikes and pretty much turned her nose at us as we walked in. But it was fun to walk through, especially since it had a lap pool, an elevator, and even a closet the size of Carrie's from "Sex and The City!" Anyway... enough daydreaming, the photo below is beautiful and realistically what my beloved San Diego does look like if you sat at the picnic from day into evening. But maybe not tonight because the marine layer has come in, I will have to go back for another picnic and stay until evening some other time, San Diego really is the best city to live in for sure...nothing really compares.