Do you have 1.5 Mil around?

Hizees,
Yes, I'm back after a long absence from my Mod blog. I've been very busy nesting in my 1953 Atomic ranch getting ready for my baby girl to arrieve in July. Today however, I came across a new development in Westchester ( next to LMU) . They have built a new condo village there where they had a bunch of different models for sale. My favorite, The Mondrian. Here's a couple of pics of the new condos.. If you have 1.5 Million and you like several levels to your floor plan, you can live in this condo but me, I'll stick to my house.

Happy New Year!

Wow, It's been a hot second since I've posted on this blog. I'm almost 4 months into my pregnancy so I've been pretty busy on my other blog posting about baby stuff.It's funny, everyone asks me if we're going to anything special for our daughter's room. It's usually the kids room that has all the crazy colors but our entire house is that way.. why should her room be any different? I do have some plans for her room.. I don't want the typical pink because she's a girl- I've been planning to put alot of colorful pop art up perhaps some Litchenstien, and of course some Warhol.. ( just to expose her to the modern asthetic early;) Here's a couple of things that I'm planning for her to have... to start her early with a modern eye!

History and Holidays with Charles Phoenix

For 2 summers I went to The Ford Center to see “histo-tainer” Charles Phoenix. For those of you who are not familiar, He is an author of several Mid-century coffee books,and is famous for his live comedy retro slide shows. The first retro slide show I went to see was his Retro Vacation Slide Show Tour of the USA in 2003 then I went to see The United States of Charles Phoenix (A Comedy about Mid-Century Americana) this summer.All his slide shows are different but the gist of it is that he celebrates the kitschy and classic 50s, 60s & 70s in slide shows.
The latest show he had in Los Angeles was THE CHARLES PHOENIX HOLIDAY JUBILEE which we were lucky enough to catch on Monday night.
The show was fantastic and I highly suggest if you're a big mid century, kitch 50's, 60's and 70's fan, and love to laugh.. He's the guy to catch if he's in your hood! His show is nothing like you've ever seen. He's just AH-mazing and quite the snappest of dressers too!

Our Christmas card.. The Unveiling

So here it is folks. the Unveiling of our Christmas card. Taken by resident "Wicked" cutie pie Philip of thephlipsideofthings photography. We are so thrilled by the photo.We put in a special suprise in the pic as an announcement to all our family and friends. The best thing about this pic is that it's soooo us and if you can't tell, we are soooo happy to be back in sunny Los Angeles!

The Holidays are HERE!

It's that time again- Officially December so let's put up all our decorations up and eat, Eat, EAT! For those who know my husband and I .. we are very private people so it came as a big surprise that we decided to have a Christmas party and invite his entire cast and crew to our 1234 square foot home. Funny, I didn't anticipate very many people to want to show up but from the looks of things, I think most of his cast is coming. It was already crazy when we had 15 people over for Thanksgiving. Now, I can't imagine having over who knows how many. I'm hoping for great weather so most of the time we can do this outside. It was 80 degrees here yesterday so I'm praying for another wonderful California winter day for our party.

We started with some of the projects that were on the

"To Do" list but were cut short due to a death in the family . My husband left for Hawaii to be with his family as I stayed home to hold down the fort and left with some 1/2 finished projects- We started by laying down the black weed cloth and putting down the white granite rocks. Yup, that's 5 bags full-As you can see.. not enough to fill the dirt garden. The cute mailbox is from Chiasso I loved it so much I drove it cross country from their store in Chicago!

We also decided to paint over the terracotta tile in grey- It looks better than the terracotta but it gets really dirty quick.

Now here's what the house looks like inside with some of our Christmas stuff mixed in.

Here's the vintage E-bay tinsel tree in the living room. I still haven't found the perfect tree turner for it but I do have a fabulous color wheel!

The Hubby is a huge collector of Department 56 Christmas Village pieces and unfortunately there's just so many village pieces and not so much space. I saw this piece at Jo-Ann's in 2005 when I was in Chicago and it reminded me of our house so I had to have it! I think it fits right into our decor! The line was called Retroville and since then it's been discontinued :(

We couldn't leave the kitchen out of the Christmas decor..

See the tree on the table matches the wreath on the front door both bought at Target!

The Hubby is also a big fan of these candy dispensers that like to "poop" jelly beans...So, of course we had to display those.

Here's what's at the end of the kitchen.. Our guest bathroom and to the right is our guest room

Underneath the "Warhol"-ized portrait I made of my pugs Penelope and Skylar is our Puggy-bank "Dollar". Yeah, the Target trees have made their appearances all over the house!

Here's Skylar in her Christmas blankie doing what she does well- Snug like a PUG in a Rug!

Viva Las De La Nuez!

Las Vegas is always changing- I remember when this hotel used to be the Aladdin- Now it's The Planet Hollywood Hotel. The outside is kinda funky. It's Disneyland meets Broadway in Manhattan (but only for adults!) Those round disks on the building change colors from Blue to Purple.. Kinda funky, kinda cheesey and very Vegas!

One thing that I did find was a very cool ceiling mural in the mall part of the hotel. It reminded me of local LA Artist De La Nuez but a little different since the people in the mural were current pop idols. I think one was Christina Aguilera ( not sure) but I really thought this was really COOL! I must have looked like a total TOOL taking pictures of the ceiling- Ah, who cares- at least I got the shot !

Viva Las Vegas

Hizees! Just got back from Las Vegas- I guess the beauty of living in LA is that you are just a hop, skip and a jump away from all the fabulousness of Las Vegas! I make the trip there at least twice a year. Once in July for our anniversary and the other usually at holiday time with the in-laws. We all LOVE to gamble and we LOVE Vegas! For the past few years we usually stay at the Wynn.

I love the details like the Warhol pictures in the rooms and and how the decor is slightly funky, elegant and eclectic. Sorry about the blurriness of the pics-That's when I didn't quite know how to adjust my camera.

Anyway, here's a shot of the lobby.

I really like the mosaic tiles they did on the floor.

I enjoy the Wynn but this time we stayed at one of the older casinos- The Flamingo!The Flamingo has been around since the 50's. Not one of the newer "super sized" hotels on the strip but this hotel has HISTORY! The casino itself is pretty dank but this is from someone who likes to gamble her money at the Wynn , Bellagio, or Mandalay Bay. Boy, was I pleasantly surprised when I say the newly remodeled rooms at the Flamingo. I think what impresses me is that with a little know how, you could probably do this decor yourself, Something a little more posh than Design on a Dime but all do-able. Here's what I mean

See the headboard.. It's white vinyl tufted- I think it's super cute- The room is kinda girly but I still dig it. The color scheme reminds me of Neapolitan ice cream- Pink, Brown, Beige, White
Yummy! Check out the wall paper.. It's totally Ice cream!

Another genius thing was the TV in the bathroom mirror- Ok, I think I've seen this on HGTV's "I Want That" and yeah, the Wynn has a TV in the bathroom too but this one is in the mirror- So much better!

The next two pics are of the desk in the room and the light fixture above the bed.

See the lamp and the chair? Very Jonathan Adler! I swear I think I saw an episode of Design on a Dime and they showed you how to make a lamp just like that one.. well, kinda like that. Here's what the room looks like in the day and here's a shot of the wall paper in the natural light.

The Flamingo may be an old hotel but what a pleasant surprise with the room renovations. Very cute.. and If I still had a New York apartment and I was a single girl, you could bet that I'd be redecorating my place to look like this!