Ode to the Womb

**pic from Krislyn Design**





"The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new." ~Rajneesh

Mother's Day is quickly approaching and minds are racing to find that perfect gift. Some of us will take this time to remember mothers that have passed, and some of us will be grateful for the mothers we are blessed to have today.

The perfect gift must perform on several levels. Whenever possible, the gift should be specific to the recipient, utilitarian, timeless and unique, and something the person has always secretly wanted. (Many friends may come out of the woodwork and say, " Yeah..about that Christmas present...")

With these requirements the perfect gift may seem quite elusive. Whenever my friends say, "Oh, I wish I had...", I write it down in a notebook that I place in a very, very safe place, never to be found again :o). In 2009, though, the notebook has reappeared and now I have possible gifts to add/roll out for birthdays, Christmas, Mother's Day, Father's Day, etc.

Featured Mother's Day gift:

A friend of mine works at this FABULOUS floral shop. I was blown away by the whimsical arrangements, the stark yet opulent tree sculptures, and the overall juxtaposition of different textures, colors, and forms. The shop is named after its prolific, Los-Angeles based designer Krislyn Meyer-Komarov. If you live in the LA area, you MUST visit the store to experience the awesome splendor.

http://www.krislyndesign.com/index.html

Other possible gifts:



• 
  
  Flowers--They demonstrate the ever growing love and appreciation between a mother and child

• 
  
  Jewelry--Adorn your mother with jewels/crystals/beads that enhance her stunning personality

• 
  
  Books--We all need to read. This is a chance to share where your consciousness is at the moment.

• 
  
  Spa Treatments--Massages and facials can be expensive, but do not let the price tag dissuade you from pampering your loved one.

• 
  
  Pictures--Frame some of your favorite moments with your mom.

I'm Gonna Watch My Money Slip Down the Drain, but at Least My Sink Will Be Clean!

(Now hum the blog title to I'm Gonna Wash that Man Right out of My Hair!)

Those who know me, can attest to my love for Jo Malone. I love the natural, citrusy blends she creates and, when sprayed in layers, one's body becomes a true goddess temple ;o).

How can you create a similar sensory landscape in every part of your home? Before you take a bath in perfume and walk around your humble abode, take a look at Murchison-Hume cleaning products.

Their packaging is rather similar to Dr. Perricone and Khiels' skin-care lines. The design heralds back to antique medicine bottles, thereby making the product appear elegant, dependable, natural, and accessible or as I like to say, "It's just EDNA!"

http://www.murchison-hume.com/index.php

Mirror, Mirror in My Mirror

Today's find is a lovely mirror by Kartell, an internationally renowned design firm that melds modern and functional aesthetics for the home, office, and laboratory!

Company bio http://www.lifestylebazaar.com/designers/kartel/

The mirror I speak of is below. It reminds me of a picture my friend Nina once took while we were visiting Bruges, Belgium. Years ago, I would never embrace such sterile pieces, whose palette consisted of white and other primary colors. Mondrian, whose work I respect, but never loved, always came to mind. Now that Saturn is returning in my life and my taste buds are maturing to the point of me enjoying dark chocolate over milk, I can embrace the Mondrian-esque qualities.

It retails for £308.00. http://www.lifestylebazaar.com/shop/home_accessories/mirrors/francois_ghost_large

Birthday present anyone?

Great Source for Light Fixtures

I've decided, my lovely blog followers, to share little personal morsels with you each week. Today's find revolves around light fixtures. My apt., unfortunately, showcases several ceiling fixtures that offer little to no character. My quest for affordable, modern, sleek lights is an on-going process for several reasons. Either they are bland or too expensive, go figure.



I came across this chandelier today. It retails for $1085.00

On the surface, it looks like a challenging, yet doable DIY project.

Here is the link to Y Lighting, a site that sells several designer fixtures. They will get your imagination going and your mouth watering.

http://ylighting.com/index.html

I Want to Know....Where do you keep your "Keep Calm" Poster?

When I first bought this poster, I was naive enough to think I had stumbled upon something terribly unique and rare. Unique, yes, rare, not so much. But that is okay. People love this poster. So, I want to know

Where do you keep your "Keep Calm and Carry on" Poster! Send your pics to me and I will post them here.

This is where I keep mine. It's a great message to send to co-workers!

My Venture into Cube Interior Design

My Corner Home Away from Home:
If you’ve ever worked in an office, you’ll know that most cubes are either decorated with office materials or with haphazardly placed family photos. I work at a movie studio and it would be all too easy to fill my corner with tchotchke. Instead, I have chosen to create a peaceful and aesthetically pleasing area that portrays my personal design tastes. The way I see it, if I’m going to leave my beautiful apartment to spend 10 hours+ somewhere else, it better be stylish and comfortable.

The Entrance:
I fell in love with these Blik decals. They are perfect for personalizing a space without damaging the walls or cabinets. When walking past my corner, one is immediately taken by the flock of birds. Instead of offering junk food, I give my visitors a tasty treat, Clementines in a beautiful glass vase.

Detailed View of Front Facing Wall:

•Clementines in a tall glass vase
•“Keep Calm poster” is the best mantra to share with work colleagues.
•Blue birds from Blik
•Wooden framed mirrors, IKEA
•Stainless steel French press because drip coffee is no way to drink LAMill coffee
•Tiny pink roses in “inline box vases” from CB2 http://www.cb2.com/family.aspx?c=910&f=4815&viewall=1
•Snake plant in brown ceramic vase

The Computer Area:
Every time I came into work, I was welcomed by this bland cabinet door. It was in this corner that my cubinterior design began.

1. I upholstered square cork boards with cool, patterned vintage fabric. Then, I attached magnetic plaques labeled “Maps:Gym”, “Contact List”, “Calendar” and a famous quote from Cicero
“Tarditas et procastinatio odiosa est”, Delay and Procastination are hateful. It’s nicer to read in Latin.


2.The flock of birds begin their ascent from this corner


3.I tacked on two Spontan magnetic strips with t-shaped pins on the backsplash and placed 6 Grundtal magnetic canisters. The fish bowl images, which I added, bring the element of water into the space. I find it to be calming and clean.

4.In addition, I made a “Happy Hour” clock with the IKEA PS. If you open the front door, there are two liqueur glasses and a small bottle of St. Germaine Elderberry.

Detailed views of backsplash

•Canisters are filled with vitamins, fish oil pills and keys sitting in a canister of coffee beans
•Added the gold fish in fishbowl image to canister lids-notice the keys resting in the canister of coffee beans?

Detailed view of Corkboards

•The vintage fabric was wrapped and stapled to the corkboards. I then attached binder clips to the center of the boards, removed the front handle and secured them with t-pins to the cube walls.

Additional photos:

My beautiful Brooklyn home

Some of you have had the pleasure of seeing my parent's house in Brooklyn. (Yes, I must distinguish that it technically is not mine, but I'm working on that!) During the 2008 Lefferts Manor house tour, it came to my attention that our house was used as the blueprint for the other houses on our block.




The house tour last year was pretty spectacular. Living in Los Angeles for the past 7 years, I've missed the gradual change that has slowly crept into my hidden jewel of a neighborhood. Due to Manhattan's inflated prices, many people have flocked to our block (hehehe) to purchase their own piece of NYC history. With that migration came excellent interior design! Fearless homeowners completely renovated their interiors by adding central air, tearing down the stucco walls, tearing down walls, in general, to make more spacious living rooms and bathrooms. The one house that really caught my attention was 28 Midwood Street. Wow! They spent close to one million dollars on their renovations and it shows. If I have the chance, I will certainly try to interview the home owners and showcase it on this blog! What was so breath taking you might ask? Well, let me list my favorite details

• Central Air: Having experienced the sweltering NYC summers for most of my life, I've always dreamed of having an air conditioner in every room. Then, I moved to LA and discovered the wonders of having central air and heat. Every home should have such a system. The design is streamlined and environmentally better, I think...




• Follow the red brick Garden: Personally, I had mixed emotions about this, considering how much my mother adores her little garden and craves an even larger one. They removed the gardening area and paved the entire space in red brick. Added nice lawn furniture and planted two trees in opposite corners. Minimalist and great for entertaining.




• My bedroom: The house originally had 4 1/2 bedrooms and 2 smaller studies that could be converted into bedrooms or offices. Well, 28 Midwood decided to throw caution to the wind and re-imagine the layout. (Below is the floor plan of 30 Midwood street. 28 is pretty much the same, just inverted.) There is a back room, a middle room (my room) and one at the anterior of the house. There is a hallway that runs along the outside of my room, from the back room to the front bedroom. Well, they tore down the wall between my room and the hall, making a beautiful reading/entertaining area. Seeing that it gets the most light, I thought that was a wise choice.

• The master bathroom (another great surprise): In between my bedroom and the anterior bedroom is one small bathroom, tres, tres petite. The owners created a masterpiece! They created a walk in closet with two entrances: One from the bathroom, the other from the bedroom. The bathroom extended a bit into what was the original closet and was tiled from top to bottom with white marble. I'm salivating even now.

Why am I writing about this? I love interior design, for one thing. What inspired this post, however, was this article on Apt. Therapy.com. They featured a similar Victorian house in Fort Greene that was touched by a modern interior deign fairy.

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/house-tours/house-call-nicoles-historic-contemporary-mix-new-york-078263

As I commented on their site, these houses provide a traditional canvas on which to design a modern masterpiece! I look forward to seeing more creative interiorscapes in the neighborhood.

Regimen--day 4

Breakfast

I wasn't too inventive yesterday

• 2 cups of coffee
• lavash square, yogurt/pico de gallo, spinach, one egg

Lunch

• Nothing, yikes! Coffee fills me up

Dinner

I was lazy and ordered out

• 1/2 a roast beef sandwich on pretzel bread with cheddar and avocado
• 1 cookie and milk

Had to have an off day.

The Regimen--day 3

Breakfast

I have to say this was rather tasty

• a toasted, square piece of lavash bread with a plain yogurt and pico de gallo spread, couple of raw spinach leaves and one egg. Delice!

Snack

• More cuties

Lunch

• Couldn't resist, had to have my curried lentils and turkey meat again. I'm beginning to love plain yogurt!

Dinner

• square piece of toasted lavash, little butter, yogurt/pico de gallo spread, turkey burger patty, light smear of goat cheese
• toast, my new favorite treat!
• glass of milk

Wall Decals and my other obsessions

Several people have asked about the bird decals I placed in my cube. I've compiled this list for those inquirers and now you can check them out as well! I'll post some photos of my rather well designed cube ;-)

• 
  Blik: Well known, located in Venice, CA, and reasonably priced. I ordered my decals from them.
  http://www.whatisblik.com/walldecals.html
• 
  Domestic: Located in France, really high quality and artistic designs.
  http://www.domestic.fr/index.php
• 
  Actedeco: Also located in France. Beautiful designs, click on "create your own wall stickers" to design in a pseudo room. You’ll never stop.
  http://www.acte-deco.fr/
• 
  Modern Wall graphics: Similar to Blik, reasonably priced
  http://www.modernwallgraphics.com/
• 
  dVider: They specialize in room dividers, but they also offer some unique wall decals. Beautiful actually
  http://store.dvider.com/stickers.html
• 
  Mod Livin: They sell Blik’s wall decals as well as other great design elements
  http://www.modlivin.com/Accessories/Wall-Decor-
• 
  Wallter: They offer cool wall designs. No decals, but cool fixtures.
  http://foldbedding.com/index.php
  

Here are some other sites Je les adore BIG TIME!

1. 
   Apartment Therapy: Offers wonderful design tips, DIY projects and presents house tours from around the world. Great source for design inspiration.
   http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/

2. The Kitchen: They have lovely recipes and design ideas for kitchens.
http://www.thekitchn.com/ --the kitchen

3. Then, if you scroll to the bottom of the page, you’ll see links to their other sites. Unplgged is about electronics, Ohdeedoh is about design for kids and Re-nest is about
green living.

• 
  http://www.ohdeedoh.com/ --kids
  http://www.unplggd.com/ --gadgets
  http://www.re-nest.com/ --green living tips

The Regimen-day 2

Breakfast

• Oatmeal
• 1 coffee
• couple of cuties

Lunch

• Yummy lentils, pico de gallo, spices (curry, cumin, fennel), turkey crumbles and a dollop of plain yogurt.

Snack

• seven strawberries and more cuties

Dinner

• Finished the light pasta (olive oil, salt, steak seasoning) with green peas and asparagus
• Two slices of toast w/butter

Written by guest writer Amanda Neal

Mar. 1, 2009

Signing on GUEST WRITER Mrs. Neal here to report on Ms. N's current state of mind. Well the weather in her head is a bit blustery, with gales of ennui set to attack her at work later today! Rest assured, the temperature in Ms. N's head shall come down in the evening hours and a smooth mild cusp of spring night awaits her!

The Regimen...

Monday, March 3, 2009

Bike into work--20 minutes

Breakfast:

Egg white omelet--pico de gallo and un poquito queso

1 coffee

Meal 2

strawberries and clementines

Meal 3

spinach, goat cheese, red beets walnuts, raisins (?), balsamic vinegar

Bike home, get car--20 minutes

Meal 4

lentils, chicken, aspasragus, sunflower seeds, jalapenos, plain yogurt (?), curry and cumin flavoring

Tracy Anderson Studios--2 hours

Bonne Journee!

L'autre jour, J'avais eu le plaisir avoir une conversation electronique avec une collegue de PHE Paris. C'etait une surprise telle ecrire en Francaise. Donc, J'ecrirai des blogs en francais parce que c'est bonne pratique, no? Mon fascination avec la langue Francaise commencera a la secondaire quand j'avais le choix estudier espagnol ou francaise. Mes parents estimerent que espagnol avait ete plus utile a l'avenir. Peut'etre, mais maintenant Je pense que de langue c'est necessaire. Donc, c'est tout pour aujourd'hui. 

A bientot!

CEN

Welcome!

I have a blog!!!!! How exciting. I never thought I would embrace this new literary freedom as much as I have in the past five minutes, but I am rather eager to share my thoughts, pet projects and favorite links with my friends and family. Thank you for reading the first post. Look forward to entertaining you some more in the coming years.

Toodles,
CEN