here's a tip

Totally random, but it made me smile- a collection of 36 tip jars!
See the rest here.

(via topcultured)

visionary

great cover of the latest Interview with Bjork. Photo by Inez Van Lamsweerde, Vinoodh Matadin)

sfgirlbybay new site!

happy munday! fellow blog buddy Victoria has just launched her new site sfgirlbybay.com- definitely check it out! it looks fantastic! (congrats V!)

deadline

more post-it fun- this time by Bang-yao Liu

mundane aesthetic: pineapple

(whew!) what a week- I've had a long frustrating and annoying past few days, hence not as many posts this week. Just normal work grumblings, but TGIF!! It's still very "june gloom" here in So Cal, so my thoughts are on something sunny and yummy- Pineapple. Every time I go to Hawaii, it's tradition to hit up the Dole Pineapple Plantation on the way to the North Shore. I always have to get me a soft serve pineapple cone. (sigh) sooooo good. And just today, I was flipping through a recent Donna Hay magazine (issue 43) , and saw this pineapple yumminess- Carmelized Pineapple- put it on skewers, brush it with the brown sugar mixture (brown sugar and water) and grill it (love the twine wrapped handles idea). You keep the remaining brown sugar water and serve in a cup as a dipping sauce.
(photo by hugh stewart, styling by steve pearce for Donna Hay issue43)

anyway- go have some pineapple this weekend. it's sunny and yummy. hope you have a good one!

21 cake

"luxury cakes" and cake packaging from 21 cake (via wallpaper*)

monte & marmont vases

Saw these in-store today. tres moderne. sculptural, faceted, and matte white- available here

blue munday: urban carpet (cyan)

I'm totally fascinated by the work of Instant Hutong, which are Marcella Campa and Stefano Avesani. The image you see above is a detail shot of one of a series of 8 carpets. Each carpet represents "... different maps of Hutong areas (narrow streets/alleys of courtyard residences that form neighborhoods in Beijing, China). Read more details about it here and here. Be sure to check out some of their other projects at their website Instant Hutong and on behance.net.

blog Out loud thanks

just a quickie shout out to everyone that attended last night's Blog Out Loud event- thank you so much for coming out and supporting! I hope my mumblings weren't too incoherent- (thank you for not throwing any tomatoes, hehe)I apologize I couldn't hang out much after (had to pick up lil' Pepé from the babysitter) however, it was great to meet some of you, including these two bloggers, Peggy (blue pool road) and Jessica (destined to design)- Definitely check out their blogs! Gooood stuff! Also, I'm so sorry to the girl who mentioned she was also from Irvine, I didn't get you name- but thank you for coming all the way down! OC reprezent!!

I heart neon duct tape

Continuing on my current fluorescent pop color lovin- totally digging the current fun window displays using neon duct tape at J.Crew- I love how on the women's side, they have been mixing fluoro pop accessories with muted tones and white. Such a nice, fresh, modern color palette for summer. How awesome would this skirt be as a pillow? You can't really tell in the picture, but in store, the orange is really bright neon-y and the other color is like a muted/burlap/woven texture- ooh- what if you made a pillow using neon duct tape and burlap or natural/raw linen? hm... ideas...

adonde wood and stoneware vases

I'm so into these vases by Adonde. Wood + stoneware + fluoro color pops = need entire collection now. (images from Adonde)

calgon take me away

I am back from my quick little trip to Hawaii, but I've sadly gone from the sunny beach to immediately being sucked down into the hole of "this is what happens when you leave work for a few days and all hell breaks loose"... I am unfortunately caught up in the aftermath and am buried in work drama for the next few days. Seriously, "Calgon, take me away!"- I'll be back asap- in the meantime, don't forget that this thursday night is the Blog Outloud event- hope to see you there!

mundane aesthetic: color on a gray day

blue thursday: enjoying the view

Aloha!- sometimes you just have to heed the call of the island- I somehow have found myself spontaneously booking and running away for a really quick trip back to Hawaii. Posting may be a bit spotty- but I'll be back over the weekend. Just a reminder that if you're in LA, next week (thursday) is the Blog Out Loud event at Patio Culture. More details here! Be right back- the beach is calling...

continent pillows

Travel the world without leaving your sofa! Love the simple graphic-ness of these continent silos- made via batik process- Set of 3 available here.

mundane aesthetic: watermelon

hope you all had a great Memorial Day weekend- Does that mean it's officially summer now? I'm so ready...

I (finally) got the hook up(s)

Awhile back, I mentioned I was looking for some sort of wall hook/coat rack to my entry situation. Well- I finally got round to figuring out a solution. It was surprisingly quite a mental journey. I started out with the intention of having just a one-piece wall mounted coat rack. I looked around the local stores and ended up purchasing this one from Umbra. However, I still wanted something above it because the wall is so high and it just felt empty. I had a small picture ledge from IKEA left over from another project, and figured I could use that. However, it just looked kind of awkward when I placed it above the Umbra piece. Then, I spotted this great DIY idea over at DesignSponge and was totally inspired. I thought about returning the Umbra piece and using a plain piece of wood as a backer and putting a couple random hooks together instead. I also was thinking to do some sort of modern paint or paper treatment- perhaps just paint half the wood white, or use grid paper... So, I was all set on doing that- went and returned the original wall hook, and was starting to look for individual hooks to try. But then I spotted these "hook up" hooks by Three by Three Seattle- and everything changed- again. I thought to myself- y'know- all I really need are three of these guys and I can call it a day. They were modern, clean, already white- and only $3.99. The original wall coat rack I got was $29.99- and I would have had to find at least 3 other random hooks for the DIY idea. That would take awhile to scout and be a major hunt- and when all completed could've ended up costing the same if not more- So I decided to scrap the DIY idea and just go with the "hook ups." It turned out to be just what I needed and I'm happy as a clam (and the total was only $12, since the ledge I already had). The ledge worked out great above and I was able to find a place for some random art pieces that hadn't found a home yet. Yay!(Whoa- Sorry- that was totally a way too long story for such a simple result! Thanks again to everyone for their suggestions)

TGIF video break: Chanel No 5

Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amelie) + Audrey Tautou + Chanel No 5. yes please.
(more here and here)

Blog Out Loud

Calling all of you LA based peeps, whatcha doing Thursday, June 4th, 2009? (that's in two weeks) I've been kindly asked to participate in a creative blogging discussion panel that's called "Blog Out Loud". It's being organized by Megan Arquette from Beach Bungalow 8, and Rebecca Orlov from Loving.Living.Small. If you've been thinking about starting your own blog, or interested in networking with other local bloggers, or just looking to hang out with nice peeps and mingle- this should be a fun event! Other people on the panel include Richele Silva from Richie Design, Audrey Woollen from Parcel Post (and Urbanic) and Megan and Rebecca. Oh yeah, little ol' me will be there too- (I'll be the only guy on the panel... wait... what just happened here? hehe) so if you're a local happy mundane-r- please come down and say hi! It's going to be at the awesome Patio Culture in Venice from 7:30 to 9:00pm. RSVP is needed since it's kind of a small space- so RSVP early!

Check out all the info and to RSVP here. There's also a fun blog started here.
Hope to see you there!

Target Up & Up

Wait- what's this?- really? Just read this release from Reuters- Target is changing their private label brand packaging to now be called "Up&Up"- Over at the My Private Brand blog, there's a bunch more shots of the rebranding and more info of this new look. I haven't really noticed these new rebranded products filtering in yet at my local Target, but now I definitely am going to keep an eye out- I kinda liked the original really basic packaging with the bullseye logo, but I guess the new look isn't bad either. what do you think of the new design? do you think it will make an impact or difference? (images via MyPrivateBrand blog)

parakeet pillow at west elm

aww... who doesn't love a little parakeet? ... or two... or eight... hand screened on silk, from west elm.

Oliver bath collection by Veratex

Saw this while walking through The Great Indoors- Neutrals with pops of yellow-y golds and oranges- love the chocolate uneven stripes too- great summer-y color inspiration! Available here.

martha crafts on sale

If you've been itching to do some crafting, (perhaps this long weekend?) swing by Michaels- Martha Crafts are on sale now through this Saturday May 23, 2009-

orange peel candles

what a genius idea! could be DIY inspiration for your next outdoor shindig? (although not sure how you'd get the peel to stay like that...)- Anyway, the genius behind it is David Steinurzel, for the "design for a dollar" exhibit from Pratt at ICFF- check out more student ideas at AT's coverage of this year's ICFF. (via AT)

painted sections on fence

Spotted this in the June 09 Dwell- Great detail from the wall of a Polish country house designed by Peter Kuczia. Love how only small sections of the wood fence are painted in bright contrast colors. Could be a fun way to dress up and add some interest to a fence in your yard. (original photo by Tomek Pikula from June 2009 Dwell)

blue tuesday: fish prints and sprayed rocks and shells

Aside from the pretty cover, the June 09 issue of Martha Stewart Living also has this incredible craft section with "Fish Prints and Shells" and "Pebbles sprayed on Paper." I have always loved those fish prints. There's a store in Hawaii that I always go into that has these amazing ones that this japanese artist creates. However, this DIY tutorial uses rubber fishes (who knew they had those?) and you do them on rice paper. So pretty. The photography by Ditte Isager is so gorgeous for this editorial. I totally want to try out the sprayed shell/pebbles thing NOW. Tutorials here and here. (all images via Martha Stewart Living June 2009)

Green Summer: Martha Stewart Living June 2009

I'm totally inspired by the June 2009 cover for Martha Stewart Living. The bright green colors looks so fresh! I would never usually think of it as a "summer" color- but it totally works with the wood and white and feels right for the season. You can see the rest of the house here.

slice of kleenex? Kleenex "perfect slice of summer"

Fancy a slice? Saw this tissue box during the weekly Target run today- OMG. Kudos to the Kleenex packaging design people- so much fun and so cute! Apparently just limited edition for the summer. Also comes in orange wedge and lime wedge, but the watermelon was my favorite! Have you seen these at your local store?

mundane aesthetic: super lazy sunday

hope you all had a good weekend. Pepé did...

Oi Va Voi "everytime"

happy saturday- Y'all know I love me some shredding. This video shreds too! har har...
I wonder how long it took to make this...

Oi Va Voi "Everytime" from Katarzyna Kijek on Vimeo.

wooden cutlery

perfect for a picnic or outdoor dining! available here.

Table of Contents by Paul Isabella

ooh- me likey- love the inlay detail and asymmetrical shape! (via AT)

the egg has landed

omg. my Egg just landed!! It finally went on sale. I couldn't resist. happy days...