The one that got away

Everyone has that experience in life where you see something *or someone* that you fall in love with instantly. It may be a handsome bearded young man listening to Holy Grail on his Beats headphones you saw riding the subway, or that vintage Chanel purse that was on sale but you couldn't spend your rent money on it even though it was marked down by 50%! Or even, it could be that last piece of cheesecake you eyed at a restaurant but someone beat you to it. Well, mine was a coat rack. Wow! How boring did that sound? This coat rack is insanely unique. I saw it in Anthropologie years ago. You know how they have random pieces decorated amongst the store? Items like vases, art, vintage textiles, or even pieces of furniture that you didn't know was for sale since they use them for displaying merchandise. 

There it was, a rainbow wired coat rack, it was the phrase that made me fall in love.

"It's Beautiful Here"

I inquired about the price, hoping it was within my paltry budget. Well, this is Anthropologie, the place where a tank top can set you back $118 clams. The salesperson took an eternity finding the price but when she said $500, my heart sank. Sigh, my dream of hanging this rack in my home that would one day be lovely enough to boast that "It's indeed Beautiful here" began to fade.

I later came across the same coat rack on Oh Happy Day in her son's closet bedroom! This gave me the info I needed, who made this piece of whimsical art? I discovered it's a very handsome artist from South Africa named Heath Nash who uses recycled materials. This was back in 2011, so I knew I had very little chance of finding the coat rack. One night while perusing Pinterest, I saw the coat rack was pinned by a shop in New Zealand. The store was taking pre-orders but it wasn't available for shipping yet and the price was NZ$429 which converted into $352 USD. I would also have to pay a heft shipping/customs fee. Oh well, it didn't seem like it was meant for me. I still would daydream about how perfect it would look in our house.

Then a few weeks ago, I asked Antz *my husband is super talented and creative* if he could make the coat rack for me. He told me possibly could but where would we find the materials and he wasn't so keen on the idea of copying someone else's art. I agreed, so I randomly Googled the coat rack just out of curiosity and was surprised to find a shop had just received several in stock. I did a little research and found the shop was called Vamp and located in South Africa. They don't have an online shop so I contacted them through Facebook. It took a few days for them to get in touch with me but she told me they had the Heath Nash coat rack for sale for 1,400 South African Rand. Whoa, that sounds expensive. I went to the XE currency converter totally expecting anywhere from $300 - $1000 USD. To my delight, the conversion was $131 USD. Yes! Totally in my budget and I would be buying from a shop that supports local artists. I had to wire the money internationally which was a little tricky but the ladies at my bank were super helpful. At first they were apprehensive when I said I wanted to send money to South Africa. I told them not to worry, I wasn't sending it to a Prince who wanted my bank info to deposit millions into my account. They also told me many elderly people did fall for that scheme and they couldn't do anything about it, so sad.

Well, I paid a little more *$85* for expedited shipping and insurance and held my breath waited for ten days. Monday morning my doorbell rang and I saw a postwoman holding an oddly shaped package, I knew it had arrived. She even asked me what was in the box coming all the way from South Africa while I signed for it. This guy is sparking such curiosity.

So, you wanna see my precious...?

I have a post about the skirt I'm wearing coming soon!

I feel like my persistence, patience and good luck was worth it for under $220. I finally got my lovely coat rack/art. I love it so much! Turns out I'm not the only one itching to get this guy, the lady I've been corresponding with said a woman in Singapore bought one and two others were sold that week too. What do you think? Is there an item you've been lusting after that seems to always be out of reach, or budget, or stock? I have my sights a few others on my Pinterest I'm hoping to one day add to my collection.

I am not a fan of soda *maybe Sprite* but this would be SO RAD in my future guest house/party palace. I have no idea where I would ever find this, let alone in working condition!

I found this guy at an Antique shop called Inheritance. It's a Shako helmet on a wood hat mold and I adore it! That fringe tassel makes me so happy. I don't heart the $500 price tag.

This lovely floral record player has been on my wishlist for a long time. It's sold exclusively at Urban Outfitters and I almost bought it last Christmas. Then it sold out but now it's back in stock on backorder. Here's the thing. I feel conflicted with buying a record player because records are expensive *at least the ones I want* I am trying wait until I find a few decent LPs on sale or at garage sales and we have some space before I get this but it would make a lovely birthday gift.

Thanks Antz for the lovely photos. Happy Valentines day!

French school interview is Friday!

This Friday is Olivia's French school interview. Olivia will be interviewed separately so I won't know how she does *I'm not worried about her at all*. I know being nervous is silly yet I have terrible butterflies in my stomach. I have been waiting for almost two years to get this interview. I feel so much pressure since this is our top choice school for her and once she gets in, she'll be there all the way until she graduates in 2028!

Only fourteen more years to go!

Everyone keeps telling us we are gonna get in with no problem but it's really nerve-racking. I thought it would be a good idea to share our thoughts behind choosing this school for Liv. It is very expensive but also reasonable in comparison to other private school tuition in Los Angeles.

Read More...

My RAD Life List

Welcome to My Life List

 Here is my *overly ambitious* list of things to accomplish during my lifetime. Some of these are total dreams of mine that may be far-fetched but others are quite doable and I am currently in the process of completing. 
Please email me if you would like to sponsor a dream on my list.
sunkissis at aol dot com

Things that would be Lovely

• Grow my hair long and thick so I can wear braids like this
• Learn French
• Have a photo shoot with Pauline Darley in Paris
• Cook/Host an entire Thanksgiving dinner for 8 guests served on beautiful Anthropologie dishware
• Build my dream closet/wardrobe edit my wardrobe to pieces I love/look amazing
• Give birth We had our beautiful daughter Olivia Lily, June 2, 2010

• Have our nursery featured on Ohdeedoh blog  DONE
• Grow my own peonies, strawberries and herb garden
• Attend a Masquerade Ball
• Leave a 100% tip
• Learn how to print on a hand crank letterpress make pretty business cards
• Buy My Dream House / Completely renovate our next house and have it featured on Apartment Therapy we've had our nursery & our kitchen featured
• Take a photo at the Golden Gate Bridge  DONE
• Have one hundred followers on my blog
• Volunteer at an animal shelter
• Have a confetti fight

Such a fun day!

• Officiate a gay wedding I've already officiated a straight wedding
• Live to celebrate my 100th birthday
• Take a CSS/html classs and Redesign my blog layout
• Read Classic novels *Pride & Prejudice, Jane Eyre, Animal Farm, Lord of the Flies, The Glass Menagerie, The Great Gatsby, Atlas Shrugged, Oliver Twist, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Wuthering Heights, A Tale of Two Cities, Moby Dick*
• Dress up for a fancy night out *Opera, ballet, gala, etc.*
• Take a photo with Bill Murray
• Sponsor an animal
• Cook everything on my Pinterest food board
• Attend the Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governor's Island in New York
• Celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary in 2052!
• Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge  DONE
• Add a padlock with our names on it to a lock bridge  DONE

Things That would be Rad!

• Have a best friends only weekend in Palm Springs The Parker
• Participate in a Flash Mob
• Have my November 11, 2011 11:11 pm wish come true
• See Björk play live at Glastonbury Music Festival in the UK and in her hometown, Reykjavík, Iceland
• Have Marina Abramovic make me cry
• Visit the Moma Rain Room
• Go to Fashion Week
• Visit all 50 of the Los Angeles farmers markets 29 down/21 to go
• Be a contestant on The Amazing Race with Antz
• Act in a film
• Walk on the red carpet
• Drive a vintage Fiat 
• Go blonde! DONE!
• Ride a tandem bike with Antz
• Attend an awards show  *So far been to Mtv Movie Awards/Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards four times*
• See Tom Waits live
• Help my Mom write her memoirs

My Mom & Bob Dylan on a train in Tokyo

• Own a classic Chanel bag
• Start a record collection  DONE
• See a narwhal in person
• Attend alt. Design Summit
• Be completely debt-free 
• Plant a tree
• Go camping with my friends
• Learn how to use my Nikon SLR camera
• Go on vacation with my friends on a yacht
• Learn how to knit/embroider
• Run for office with our neighborhood council and do good in the neighborhood
• Attend a TED Talks event 
• Own a vacation home like this one!
• Participate in the color run
• Smash a pie in my BFF's face *she really wants me to*
• Ride a pink Vespa scooter with a matching pink helmet
• Sleep in a tipi
• Spend a year not receiving but giving gifts
• Learn how to juggle
• Attend Dapper Day all dressed up at Disneyland
• Jump into a pool with all my clothes on    

 

Things to do with Olivia

• Teach Liv origami & calligraphy 
• Send Olivia to a French immersion school  DONE
• Take Olivia to a presidential inauguration in Washington DC
• Teach her math in a fun way so when she gets older she enjoys it!
• Have a huge food fight
• Purchase an Airstream *like this one by DWR* and road trip across North America

Cutest Airstream ever!

• Learn all 50 states and capitals together
• Take Liv to the Grand Canyon walk on the skydeck
• Host a foreign exchange student 
• Take Liv to the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam  DONE  
• Have Liv's baby shoes bronzed
• Take Olivia to Junibacken to see Villa Villakuella
• Go to the summer Olympics
• Have a Snowball fight  DONE
• Take Liv to see Mt. Rushmore
• Teach Liv how to cartwheel/roller skate/ice skate/skateboard/surf/ride a bicycle
• Take Liv to see the Salvation Mountain DONE

• Teach Olivia how to swim
• Set up a lemonade stand with Liv and donate the proceeds to charity
• Take Liv to see The Nutcracker and Swan Lake ballet 
• Host a movie night in our backyard
• Go to a music festival with Liv
• Take a photo at Platform 9 & 3/4 at King's Cross train station DONE

  

  King's Cross Train Station London

• Take Liv to see Cirque du Soleil 
• Learn to sew and make this adorable pillowcase dress for Liv DONE

Liv was insanely tiny when I made this dress

• Take Liv to all five Disney parks (California, Florida, Paris, Japan, Hong Kong)
• Own a pet goat, raise Silky chickens & an Angora rabbit
• Take Olivia to the World Trade Center Museum
• Take Olivia to meet her relatives in Mexico
• Purchase "Oh, the Places You’ll Go!" by Dr. Seuss. Secretly get her teachers and mentors to sign and leave messages in it at the end of each school year. When she graduates from high school, present her with the book.
• Take Liv to a Rocky Horror Picture Show screening *it's her favorite movie and she's three!*
• Have a monthly mani/pedi date
• Take a photo of Liv standing in front of the Sorbonne in Paris to inspire her to study there  DONE

• Teach Liv to to sew, crotchet and embroider 
• Take Liv to the Eiffel Tower
• Finish Liv's baby book
• Go glamping in our backyard
• Build an in-ground trampoline to play on 
• Make a memory book for Liv every year until she's eighteen *I've been really good at keeping up with this one! I'm on year four now*
• Take Olivia's photo every week with her Totoro plush until she turns two, then every year until she's eighteen you can see her photos here

   

Travels

• Move to Paris for a year
• Take a family cruise in Alaska *see a Moose*
• Swim in the Blue Lagoon in Iceland
• Kiss the Blarney Stone
• Take a photo holding the Leaning Tower of Pisa
• Attend the Holi Festival in India
• See the Taj Mahal 
• Ride a cable car in San Francisco  DONE
• See Stonehenge
• Drink Sangria in Spain, Sake in Tokyo, Ouzo in Greece, Chartreuse in Paris and learn to open a champagne bottle using le saberage
• Go to Nuit Blanche
• Stand on the glass ledge in Willis Tower in Chicago
• Drive Lombard Street in San Francisco  DONE
• See the Colosseum and take a photo with a Gladiator
• Go to the Rain Room at MOMA in New York
• Buy an authentic Moroccan rug, fez and spices
• Road trip to Austin, Texas 
• Go to Hawaii *swim with sea turtles*
• Take a photo in front of the fake Prada store in Texas 
• Go to Buñol, Spain for La Tomatina *tomato throwing festival*
• Ride a camel in the desert *dare I say, in Egypt?*
• See the tulip fields in Holland
• Check out the Neon Boneyard in Las Vegas  DONE
• Drive in a right-hand car   DONE
• Ride the London Eye   DONE
• See the Sistine Chapel ceiling
• Bathe elephants in Thailand
• Attend Dîner en Blanc Paris  DONE 
• Last year we attended Diner en Blanc Los Angeles
• Cheer on the Tour de France
• Drive through a tree in the Redwoods 
• Road Trip to Portland
• Walk on the Great Wall of China
• Visit Evelyn & Dion in upstate NY *go on the Niagra Falls tour boat*
• Fly Eva Airlines and stay in a Hello Kitty themed room
• Take the Orient Express train ride from London to Paris to Venice
• Sleep in an igloo and see the Northern Lights
• Go to Coachella, SXSW, Bonnaroo & Glastonbury
• Make a wish and toss a coin in the Trevi Fountain 
• Go to Japan
• Go on an African Safari
• See the AquaDome in Berlin 
• Spend New Year's Eve at the W Times Square
• Attend a live taping of Saturday Night Live in New York at Rockefeller Center
• Spend Christmas at a quaint Bed & Breakfast *Montréal ideally*

This list was inspired by Maggie's Life List

Today is Violently Happy's 5 year anniversary

I feel like I'm in a funk. I have so much on my mind and yet nothing to write about. My blog is where I can share my life moments and go on about my crazy dreams. I haven't been able to blog for the last two months *which feels like an eternity* because I feel stuck. I was riding high after our kitchen remodel and we had a fun summer but lately, I'm just going through the motions. I do not thrive in a routine. I am craving spontaneity. Aimee and I were talking about taking a road trip together *just us girls for a few days* up north to Portland, Oregon. I've been before for a week at basketball camp when I was fourteen. All I remember was a ga-zillion trees.

I fell in love with The Ace Portland

We are super stoked to see the beach where they filmed Goonies.
 

The mega nerd in us is geeking out over the idea of checking out the Timberline Lodge *does it look familiar?* We'll see if the roads are open and safe first.

However, she's moving into a new place soon *hopefully closer to me!* so our trip has been postponed until March. I think another reason I've been so bummers is I'm stressed out about the new French school enrollment. It's such a huge uncertainty we'll get in and I am overwhelmed by the tuition and fees. Liv's education is worth every penny don't get me wrong but we could use that cash for a much needed vacation-that-will-not-be-named or much needed house repairs.

Ten years ago, I was looking at Björk's website when I saw she would going on tour in Europe. Then out of the ordinary I told Antz and Aimee we were going to London and Paris to see her. They didn't take much convincing and by June we were boarding a plane with hardly any money and no real itinerary. It turned out to be one of the most fun times of my life. Feels like a lifetime ago.

Clubbing in Soho London

If you squint you can see a blue speck that is Björk

The metro/tube was so fun but also super stinky!

The lovely room we caught scabies in

The bells of Notre Dame

On top of the Eiffel Tower

I can't remember where we were going here but we couldn't understand a word the cabbie guy said

Harry Potter was a phenomenon in London

This Beefeater dude loved us!

The photos from the six days trip were taken with my $28 NON-digital camera from Target. So many shots were out of focus or didn't develop. I wouldn't know what to do with myself with endless digital photography technology now.

Am I having a mid-life crises? My brain keeps dredging up the past and nagging me of how lame and boring I've become. I am yearning for those pre-mortgage/bills weight of responsibility or keeping fresh milk in the house of my 20s. Someone recently said to Antz and I at a party "Do you live to work or work to live?" Is either way quality of life? I give my own self the yawns! I suppose I'm going through some pre-winter blues so I won't be blogging just for the sake of blogging. I hate coming off as a Debby downer but let's keep it real, no one's life is perfect. I'll just hang on until I get that next stamp on my completely empty passport book.

Smell ya later!