I Heart Accent Walls!

A friend of mine in the Bay Area recently solicited me for some color advice. The fireplace wall of her new home had some interesting built-in niches but everything was painted a horrible dull teal color.

She likes blue but wanted something a little more alive, but still subued.  Luckily she is very internet savvy and uploaded some photos to a paint site and played around with their color tool.  I think the end product looks pretty good.  She even took a trick of the trade and color coded her books - just a few throw pillows and staging and she'll be all set.

Of course the best accessory is Ruby Mae and her amazing onesie.  Do they make those in adult sizes?

The New Rue

Well, those of us who missed Domino were very excited when Lonny came to town. Well, now there's a new kid on the block. Rue Magazine is an online periodical with all things taste / design related.  Similar to Lonny and Domino, its spreads are beautiful and inspiring.  Check out their first issue and sign up for their mailing list.

Gurney Journey

LA artist and creator of Dinotopia James Gurney recently posted about LA's hazy light on his blog. He included this watercolor illustration that he did while sitting outside on the corner of York and Eagle Rock Blvds.  Great shoutout to my hood! 

I do love LA's hazy light.  And I think one of the best spots to experience it is in Eagle Rock, driving on the 134 and looking towards downtown (just make sure you're in the passenger's seat).

Alas

The pictures in Thursday's blog post were of Pismo Beach, where we went over the weekend.  Alas, I forgot to bring my camera so I didn't take any photos. But suffice it to say, Pismo Beach is an interesting place. A collision of worlds to be sure.  SUV's rolling down the sand and a huge amount of ATV rentals are a counterpoint to the beautiful beach, rolling hills and bluffs.  The best mental photo I took was of a big truck on the beach, 3 girls on horses passing said truck, a naked baby and two beagles - all with the beautiful backdrop of California's central coast.  Try to picture it in your own mind's eye.

Hong Kong 1968

A coworker shared this film with me that was shot and developed in my hometown of Hong Kong back in 1968.  It was then digitized in the modern day and set to music.  Pretty cool to see that some things have changed but some things haven't.... especially if you've been recently.


Hong Kong 68 from impactist on Vimeo.

2006.
Field Trip Series: Hong Kong 68.
Audio Track: "Cubby Hole" Impactist

All content and audio created by Kelly Meador and Daniel Elwing.
 

Weekend Inspiration

If I get lucky with my camera, perhaps I'll take some photos like this.

Swiss Family Hotel

When I'm on the road for work I spend a lot of time reading in-flight magazines, travel publications and other various glossy periodicals.  One thing I've noticed that keeps cropping up lately is the idea of tree house hotels.  Perhaps it's the whole green eco-tourism movement that has given rise to the idea of literal tree-hugging, or maybe it's just the next obvious step after ice hotels, under-water hotels, and the likes of Virgin Galactic.  Either way, it's a trend to watch.  You know it's a keeper when a tree house hotel shows up in Vegas or Dubai, New York or Hawaii.  Here's a roundup of the latest.

Costa Rica's Tree House Hotel

Sweden's Tree Hotel which opened in July (shown here under construction)

Sanya Hainan's Nanshan Treehouse Hotel

The Central Treesort in Cave Junction, OR

 The Ariau Towers Hotel in Amazon, Brazil

The Yellow Tree House Restaurant in Auckland, New Zealand (unfortunately they are still waiting for their permit - I guess there's a lot of red tape that goes along with tree dining)

 The tree-top dining pod at Soneva Kiri resort in Thailand.

And Travel & Leisure's article about their top 10 high-end tree house hotels.

Finally, one has to wonder..... leaves as toilet paper? or is that taking it too far?

And the Winner Is...

Jane B.  Congrats Jane.  You were picked at random with random.org and you've won the Thomas Paul Dishtowel from CSN!  Please send me your address to claim your prize.

The White City

So on Sunday, Scott decided to dust off our copy of Take A Hike Los Angeles and pick out a local hike for us to take.  We woke up on the late side so our hike didn't start until about 12:30.  But we were prepared. Slathered in sunscreen, with two large Nalgene's full of water, we drove the 15 minutes to the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains (just a 10-15 minute drive to Altadena) and began the trek.  The Sam Merrill trail (I've checked and as far as I can tell, there is no relation to the shoe brand) starts in Rubio Canyon and then ascends 1400 feet to the top of Echo Mountain. Due to a few hiccups along the way, the hike took a bit longer than usual, but was fun nonetheless...actually more like funn...y.

Hiccup number one - dehydration.  make sure you are hydrated - and bring more water than you thought you'd need.  It gets hot in these here mountains!

Hiccup number two - too old hiking boots.  About half way up the mountain, the front part of Scott's hiking boot sole decided to give way.  We're handy though and we took a string from our little backpack, cut it and tied the sole on.

That lasted for about a hundred meters when the back half detached and the entire sole came off.  Lucky for Scott, his hiking boots have a steel plate on the bottom (we think) that served as a good-enough sole for the remainder of the ascent and descent.

Then of course, about 3/4 of the way up the second boot sole came off altogether. At least he was on even footing now, so to speak.

Despite the hiccups, the view at the top (of the entire LA basin - from Pasadena all the way to Palos Verdes) was incredible and worth the trek.  Also at the top of Echo Mountain are the ruins of the White City which was a resort hotel atop the mountain, reachable by a cable car up until the 1930's (the ruins of which can also be seen).  The grounds consisted of hotel, casino, dance hall, tennis courts, pig pen, observatory, post office and power plant.  Unfortunately it was destroyed by fires and floods and never rebuilt.

And of course, walking back down the mountain behind Scott in his "hiking mocassins"  was also worth it.

Machines at work!

And here is Scott's promised video of the grinding of the mulberry stump, and the industrial grade chipper shredder sending our tree to tree heaven, turning it into mulch.