photography:: i found my heart in la

Tony Bennett may have left his heart in San Francisco, but I found mine in LA (and I guess I sort of left it there, too, since I'm here in PA pining away for Los Angeles).

Life has been a roller coaster for me the past few months, and today is just one of those not-so-good days. It helps to have a little reminder that there are better days ahead and my goals are waiting. I know I said in my previous post that I was just posting one quick post today, but I just had to add this picture/digital art. I took the photo on my recent to trip to LA and then created the rest of the art. I think this deserves a place in my new living room design, don't you?

i heart cali:: la la land by sixth & main

It's no secret around the DU household (or to anyone who's ever had at least one conversation with me) that I'm really a displaced California girl. I've never lived there, but I make a habit of visiting often because truly no place has ever felt more like home to me than the Golden State. (And someday I will call it home for real.)

And because this is my blog and it's about things I love and that inspire me, I'm starting an "I Heart Cali" column/post thingy where I post things I love inspired by the state I love. Not sure how regularly I'll post about it, but look for it to pop up every now and again.

So here's the first "I Heart Cali" post:

I love everything about Sixth & Main's La La Land photography series- the dreamy photos, the pink tints and of course, the subject matter of all Los Angeles landmarks. Must. Have. Now.


{ top row: downtown los angeles theatre, route 66, hollywood }
{ middle row: shopping on melrose, los angeles skyline, santa monica pier }
{ bottom row: sunglow surfer at manhattan beach, rush hour, paris to la }

Inspired // California

Wow, it's been two weeks since my last post on this blog. Shame on me. But I have a decent excuse. I was on vacation in San Diego! Nothing inspires me like the beach and cities, so San Diego, being a city by the beach, is pretty much inspiration perfection as far as I'm concerned. We had a great time, I took over 1000 pictures, and I'm still busy uploading and editing them (in between studying for midterm tests and completing midterm projects- don't be jealous).

Here are a few pictures I took and then had fun with in Photoshop.

First shoes of fall and other news

So, California is on pause. Big fat boohiss. But if I don't move away from the suburban wasteland soon, I'm going to shrivel up and die. DIE!

Painfully, slowly. Suburbanly.

Or I'll just start wearing ill-fitting khakis with equally ill-fitting polo shirts and clunky old shoes.

And it scares the bejesus out of me. For realz.

Moving soon is a necessity. Like breathing. And sushi. And non-clunky shoes.

And we definitely need to move west. Even if it's just a little bit. Like Pittsburgh. Or a little further. Like Denver. Those seem to be the two cities up for bidding right now. Of course, if a job in San Diego or San Francisco lands in my lap, I'll happily skippity-skip right past the 'Burgh and the Mile High City and head straight for the Pacific (okay, I'll stop just short of the Pacific like, say, downtown San Diego or La Jolla).

But until we bust out of the wasteland, I needed to buy something to keep me from turning into a frumpster. (Didn't someone suggest I buy a pair of shoes for every month I'm stuck here? Well, I'm listening.)

Well, peeps, here it is- my first fall 2009 purchase:


Aerosoles Egg Roll bootie

With a cluck-cluck here and a cluck-cluck there...

In my boredom, I managed to concoct another semi-crazy idea. I want some chickens. Four chickens, actually. Live ones. SuperD thinks I'm nuts, and although he admits it's a good idea, he seems to think I won't take care of the chickens.

This idea sprouted from an article I read in one of my favorite magazines, Sunset, a magazine about life in the west. It's all very fashionably outdoorsy and stylishly crunchy. I get the northern California edition by default, which is almost perfect since it's close enough to southern California. To me, having chickens and growing a garden (these days, who wouldn't want to know exactly where their food comes from) is all part of the sustainable, handmade indie artisan lifestyle.

So, I want some chickens and I've already named them. Ready for this? My future feathered egg-layers are Dorothy, Rose, Blanche and Sophia. In case you don't recognize those names, just run a google search for The Golden Girls. And SuperD is wrong. I would take care of the chickens (and keep Thing 1 and Thing 2 from eating them, although we may need some assistance from Dog Whisperer, Cesar Millan on that one).