>> road trip to santa cruz

Matt and I like taking weekend road trips, especially in the Jan/Feb off-season. This year I kind of have a hankering to go to Santa Cruz. I remember it being pretty great when I was 18, back when getting into a jazz club underage was "the ultimate". Built by Wendy tee ($45); flea market beads; trail jacket ($261); neckerchief ($13); soft sole mocs ($38); California field notes ($10 for set of three); Stanley water bottle ($36); Ella Dish collar and lead ($68); L.L. Bean signature duffel ($135); Blackbird vintage shades ($353).

>> dogs days of summer

Emeco Heritage Rocking Armchair ($875-$1,745); McClure's garlic dill pickles ($14); glass juicer ($12); classic cotton hammock ($99); Peterboro bike basket ($34); Fatboy dog bed ($139); Propello desk fan ($145); oval hurricane ($18); My Dog Skip ($10).

>> beige + blonde

Skinny feather pillow ($325); gold etched disc earrings ($30); ikat box clutch ($99); Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead ($17); Moscot Lemtosh sunglasses ($179); sequin sunhat ($95); straw doggie carrier ($45); Artek Stool 60 by Alvar Aalto ($250); shag pouf ($385).

>> sir paul

A bunch of us are seeing Paul McCartney play The Hollywood Bowl tonight, a venue he historically rocked out with his band mates in 1964 and 1965. It's going to be a crazy night of sandwiches and senior citizen rock 'n roll. Can't wait!

P.S. Does anyone know what is going on in this photo? Did he just chuck a live animal into the air?

>> what's inside: Alexandra Becket + Greg Steinberg

Yesterday afternoon I sipped iced tea with textile artist Alexandra Becket in her fabulous newly remodeled house in West Hollywood. She and her fiancé Greg spent the better part of last year working on stripping walls, razing the garage, demo-ing the tiled roof and putting in a new kitchen, bathrooms, landscape—and of course scouring estate sales and flea markets for those perfect accents. He loves Tiki Modern and she loves Mid Century, two styles that happily marry in an L.A. home. While hanging out with Alexandra, I felt like I was hanging with Los Angeles history because she is the granddaughter of Welton Becket, the architect who designed The Capitol Records building, LAX, The Beverly Hilton, The Cinerama Dome...is there a major architectural landmark in L.A. that he didn't design? It was really cool to hear her stories. Thanks Alexandra!

Above photo is a shot of her studio office located in their garage. Becket has sold textile designs to Trina Turk and Anthropologie to name just a few clients. She also has had her artwork displayed at DWR.

Alexandra and Greg landscaped with mostly drought-friendly plants.




The fireplace was painted white when Greg moved into the home in the 1990s, they stripped it and found beautiful 1920s tiling by Ernest Batchelder!

Tiki, the cat, prefers Danish Modern.


A LIFE magazine from 1956 sits in their living room. The cover story is a Palm Springs home that Welton Becket designed for a mechanical engineer. What you're looking at is a rotating sun deck apparatus for even tanning. Ah, the 1950s! Check the dog in the middle!

>> molly mutt dog duvets

Every time, without fail, when laundry is on the floor, Harrison gets right on top of it and takes a nap. With that said, I think I just found her dream bed! It's a great concept by Molly Mutt where you stuff old clothes or towels you don't want anymore into a mesh stuff sack ($10-$15) and then cover that with a cute little dog duvet ($20-$45). In the end it's a LOT cheaper than most dog beds and if you have a dog like ours that is often kept awake by non-existing raccoons at night, this may be just the thing.

>> i was under your porch

I can barely take looking at this Shaggy Dog card ($4).

Filson Dog Lover Set

This is totally awesome. The Seattle store Blackbird has put together a Dog Lover Set ($73) which includes a collapsible Filson Dog Bowl, Filson Merino Fingerless Gloves and a well loved vintage bandana. How cute!

Danger Dogs

I am really freaking out about about these "Beware of Dog" pet portrait signs from Nepal, hand painted on metal. It's fair trade folk art, and you can commission your own pet for about $250 or browse the "ready-made" inventory at rates between $100 and $200. Get in your order in early October and you'll have your painting before the holidays. Danger Dogs are also available around L.A. at a bunch of places including New Stone Age and the Santa Monica Museum of Art. Check out Nepal Dog for all the information and for more images. I want all of them!

James Perse Home Collection

There's something really nice about a pure white couch and simple honest furniture, which is why I'm really liking the new James Perse Home Collection. Perse also makes some great (and random) limited edition items like ping pong tables, dog bowls, and beer bongs—which we saw last night in the home of this article's writer who took one home from the opening party. All available exclusively at JP boutiques which you can find by clicking here.

Ooh La La

On Sunday Matt and I drove down to Laguna Beach for some fish tacos—but really my motivation was to go to the Kerry Cassill store La La, one of my absolute favorite stores behind the Orange Curtain. I love the beachy feel of the store, so appropriate for Kerry's soft, fun, and casual fabrics. I think the Hubz-to-be would agree, doesn't he look fascinated? 1145 South Coast Highway, Laguna Beach, CA.

Heath Ceramics for dogs

The famed mid-century American pottery Heath Ceramics created a special-edition pet bowl ($65) exclusive to the Portland design store Canoe. The bowl comes in an aqua and matte brown finish and was produced from one of Heath's archived designs. If Harrison stops terrorizing the neighbor's poodle I might think about it. Ok, who am I kidding, I already ordered it.

Priscilla Woolworth's Eco-Friendly General Store

I wouldn't want to start off another year of blogging any other way than with a post about my friend Priscilla Woolworth's new online general store. I still remember walking into Priscilla's home in L.A. for the first time five years ago and being inspired to no end by her use of color and objets d'art. As I got to know her over the years I observed her deep passion for the planet, public health, and products that help people live better. You may have guessed by her last name that running a general store is in her blood. Priscilla is four generations away from one of the founders of the Woolworth chain and believes with a little updating, an old-fashioned Woolworth General Store can serve a new set of customers and become much more than just a fond memory. Her goal is to provide the best selection of Eco-friendly products on the market, which are practical, well designed and affordable. Check it out right here! Above: Headscratcher ($5), I've felt this and it is unbelievable, I'll be ordering mine right after I finish this post.

Argentinian Incense Burner ($90).

Natural Parenting Book ($15).

Recycled Aluminum Foil ($5.25).

Golden Rules Painting on wood ($120).

Bio Bags for dogs ($6.50), these are great! I'm glad I have a better online source to order them.

Henry's By Post

Maura of the fabulous Wisconsin-based online store Henry's contacted me yesterday about her teas. Henry's carries 14 different types of high quality teas ($7-$19), something I'm definitely going to order because I love green tea and I love love love the apothecary packaging. I also couldn't resist the Jail Birds ($31, $45)! So cute! I want to give one to Hamilton for her freeway rescue anniversary which was last week. Check out Henry's, there's so many unique general store items. Have a great Thanksgiving!

Ella Dish

Speaking of dog walking, while we've been out of town a lot lately and are leaving again on Friday, Miss Eleanor Hambleton has been spending a lot of time at Dog's Day Inn, her home away from home. When Matt picked her up the other day they told him of a little incident. Apparently Harrison's collar got caught on another dog's while they were playing and despite the massive amount of growling and whimpering it took about an hour for them to get untangled. The good people that work there recommended we get her a new collar with a plastic clasp. Harrison's got a very specific taste when it comes to collars and doesn't typically like the nylon variety, but she was convinced by the Ella Dish line.

Harrison had crazy anti-gravity bed-head this morning, so I promised her I wouldn't post a photo of her face, but that's her new heart and arrows collar with glow-in-the-dark clasp. Available here ($34).