There was so much to see and do in New York, I can’t believe our trip is already over. It’s so great I have to move there!

Anyone know how it is to live in NYC with a large dog?

It was so nice to get to spend at least a little time with so many good friends out there.

We went to the MOMA, the Whitney briefly, went shopping in Nolita, took an amazing tour of Brooklyn with my friend Filip as our tour guide, ate at Freeman’s for brunch (ignore the reviews complaining about the wait, that place is awesome and it doesn’t hurt to have a cool host Carlos to help you out, (wish we could have hung out with him later that night but we were up until 5am the night before so our plan to stay up all night before our 6:45am flight didn’t quit work out).

We also went to my two favorite places to eat, Cafe Gitane, where I discovered ANOTHER amazing dish, the baked pasta with prosciutto on top (cooked slightly so it’s a little crispy) is amazing! and of course my favorite things there the Moroccan cous cous and the hot chocolate that comes with a cocoa paw print in it and a piece of dark chocolate on the side.

Peasant Bar is another beautiful and romantic place to eat. I want a house that has the walls, tables and feel of the Peasant bar and floors like APC in NY. The delicious food there is all cooked in a wood burning oven, there is no modern kitchen equiptment in that place. David pointed out how amazing it is that all the food at Cafe Gitane is prepared in a tiny space behind the bar counter, there is no kitchen at all! It’s becoming more and more apparent that you can do incredible things with a small space. That said we are ready to move to NY and see what we can do coming from our spacious 900sq. ft. apt here in LA with a full grown vizsla.
Another amazing place to eat that does incredible things with a small space is Pies n’ Thighs! Seven of us managed to find seats and share a feast of mac n’ cheese, friend chicken, biscuits, collard greens, not to mention the amazing doughnuts, cookies, and PIES.
Sarah who owns and runs the place created an amazing sampler for us all to share and she is officially my favorite pastry chef. Her desserts there are so good we all kept stuffing ourselves. She previously worked as a pastry chef at Magnolia Bakery and Diner so you don’t even have to be friends with her to trust that her pastries are good. I recommend the rhubarb pie, the strawberry dessert topped with biscuits and fresh cream, the doughnuts and the gingersnap/chocolate? cookies.

Pies n’ Thighs:

Sarah at Pies n’ Thighs

Filip, our guide to Brooklyn:

images from MOMA

such a cute lil’ eames chair

outside Freemans

ps. Sadly, I went all the way out to Lauri Faggioni’s Lake, but it appears to just be her studio now and no longer a store since the windows were covered in paper.

I’m off to New York tomorrow for the rest of the week! I’m so excited, I will return on Monday next week with lots of new things to post.

I just went to see Sunset Rubdown play tonight at the Troubadour. They are so great! Bands like this make me think of Canada as this beautiful folkloric place where everyone lives in small country towns like Anne of Green Gables did. Obviously I haven’t been there.. but so many great bands come from Canada.. Broken Social Scene, Feist, Arcade Fire, who I am going to see next month….. Tonight was great show and it was Camilla’s from Sunset Rubdown’s 26th birthday and Spencer turned the last song of the night into Happy Birthday without it sounding terribly akward and dorky like that song always does. I wish they were headlining so they would play longer, but I’m also glad it was done early. I still have to pack!

I discovered a brand called Felisi when I was in Berlin in September. Felisi makes perfect and beautiful luggage. I appreciated that although I could tell from the quality of the bag that it was pricey, the guy in the shop was super nice and talked to us for a while about the brand. I don’t remember the shop name but it was tucked away in a beautiful courtyard in Mitte that was filled with really great boutiques, that I think is shown briefly as an apartment building in the movie Goodby Lenin. A wonderul film worth checking out!

I wish I had luggage like this for my trip to NY this week!

I’m determined to find this outfit from Lowry’s Farm, even though it’s from December. I love it! Especially lately when the weather has been so confusing. The weather is too unclear as it is in LA, but especially recently with the strange wind, the random thunderstorm waking me up in the middle of the night, and the way it’s cool out but it’s a million degrees in my car. I don’t like it. I wish I didn’t have to get in the car to go to my friend’s houses and I wish there was more green space and beautiful parks, and places that I could walk to. I love the story these photos tell about this imaginary girl, going out into the wilderness to be lost in her thoughts.

I just found this link to a custom chandelier site and found this:

It’s so beautiful and magical, it makes me think of the story of Peter Pan.
I ‘ve heard that somthing like this is in Kirsten Dunst’s beautifully decorated home.

I love this image from an old ad in Vogue Nippon. It looks like the perfect way to pass the time on a gloomy or rainy day, without smoking of course….maybe she should be drinking some hot chocolate instead. The girl in the ad looks like Eva Green from the Dreamers.

I can’t stop listening to the song “Roll On” by Dntel featuring Jenny Lewis. It’s off his new album ‘Dumb Luck’. It’s so good I can’t wait for a new Jenny Lewis or Rilo Kiley album to come out.

I just came across an article I had torn out of a recent issue of FLAUNT magazine featuring Lauri Faggioni who was the person behind the amazing animals and crafts featured in the Science of Sleep. She has worked with Michel Gondry before collaborating on music videos such as this amazing one “Red Ribbon” for Devendra Banhart, she was the production designer for Dave Chapelle’s Block Party, she makes magical stuffed animals, has a store called Lake in New York, which I plan on checking out next week when I am there, designs, directs and choreographs music videos.. basically she is amazing.
This photo of her studio in New York is so inspiring.

Last night I went to see Heart play their album Dreamboat Annie at the Orpheum theatre. Nancy Wilson writes some really beautiful guitar pieces.
It was a great place to see the show. I had never been to that theatre before, even though I pass it every day. It’s so beautiful and ornate inside. You would never know it was like that from the outside surrounding street area.

i love seeing how things like this are made.

I’ve been trying to work on some new illustrations for a while now. Here are a couple new sketches in progress.

Still trying to think up something for my friend Anna Helga’s new zine ‘Blockhead‘……

I FINALLY hunted down a copy of the new issue of Lula magazine this weekend while I was out wedding present shopping for a friend.

As usual there are so many amazing photos. This magazine has very few ads, is printed on such nice paper and always has such great content. It’s my new favorite magazine. I just wish it came out more often.

This issue also features illustrations by my neighbor Kime!

Kime is an amazing artist, and an all-around inspiring person who also happens to have the best looking store in LA, Show Pony.
David and I used to live in this building, and I loved walking by such inspiring window displays every morning when I left for work. Every first Saturday of the month all the shops in the building have art opening parties, which I especially love because they are all actually open at a time when I am not at work so it’s my chance to look at all the cool new things they have.

David bought me this painting by Kime for Christmas a few years ago. I love it! Sadly, it still needs a nicer frame which I haven’t gotten around to taking care of yet.

This weekend we discovered a humming bird nest in our front yard.
I could barely see them they were so high up but the baby humming birds are so cute and tiny!

This site for Miranda July’s new book is so brilliant and funny.