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Watching / Top of the Lake

Have you watched Top of the Lake yet? Created by (my favorite!) Jane Campion and Gerard Lee, the PBS miniseries follows Tui, a young pregnant girl who tries to kill herself in a lake and the detective (Elizabeth Moss), full of dark secrets herself, who tries to solve the case. Set in a small town in the New Zealand countyside as haunting and dark as it is beautiful, Campion does an amazing job connecting Tui's story to the pervasive sexism that undercuts women's relationships with men, both familial and strange.
One of my favorite storylines is the group of women who move into an encampment of train cars on a plot of land called "Paradise". These women, scarred and bruised by their relationships, choose to give up on convention entirely. Depite their bitter pasts, they are the most joyous characters in the whole series.
The series can get violent at times and always has a bit of a dark menacing feel but it is beautifully shot and told. Watch the whole thing on Netflix, my favorite source for British and otherwise foreign series.
What are you watching these days?

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Obsessed / Edition 2.0

Another week, a new batch of things to stimulate my braingrapes. Here's what I'm crushing hard for right now:
1. Designer Tia Cibani sent her models down the runway with beautiful be-ribboned braids piled on top of their heads. I have been wearing my hair like this ever since!
2. It's just barely fall but I'm deep in the Spring '14 collections right now. Odd but cool color combinations are everywhere for Spring and I'm particularly taken with the shades at Jonathan Saunders.
3. Oh my, this ring. I would like it on my finger right now.
4. As you might imagine, desk decor at Anthropologie headquarters is a bit competitive. I've had the same look going for a while so this Fall, I am finally going to indulge in my toile obsession and re-cover my walls in vintage toile wallpaper. I can't afford Manuel Canovas but I sure love this color combo.
5. My very Eastsider LA friend Cathy introduced me to Beatrice Valenzuela shoes. I bought my first pair this summer and I lived in them! They are so cool and comfortable, they mold to your feet, they are handmade and the soles are recycled tires! A perfect perfect summer shoe.

A Bed of Roses

I'm in a little bit of a post-Iceland lull these past few weeks and thinking a lot about "the big issues" in life. It's funny, even though I am in my mid-thirties I still have the sense that, any moment now, my real life is about to start. I think I am letting too much pass by me, waiting, waiting for someone to tell me that life is happening now, all around me. The good life can't always be about the big things, like a trip to Iceland. Sometimes it's the little things- the pink velvet petals of roses in full bloom, a perfect cup of coffee, a lazy weekend cuddle with a fluffy orange cat, that make life grand.

Iceland Day 7: Candy!

On Friday evening I found myself sketching and painting various Icelandic candies. Clearly I'm still very inspired by my trip!

Iceland Day 6: Reykjavik

You can't spend a week talking about Iceland without a post about Reykjavik. The northernmost city in the world (!), what Reykjavik lacks in size, it more than makes up for in character.
We completely fell in love with the city and quickly shifted into its rhythm.
Here are a few of our favorite things...

Color everywhere. A smart way to brighten up dark winter days.

















Street art all over the place. Everywhere you look, there's amazing art of the street, from murals to mosiacs to mirrored waterfalls.


















Coffee! Reykjavik is a coffee city and none is better than Kaffismiðja Íslands. It's dreamy.



Quiet. For a city, Reykjavik is incredibly peaceful, except of course, at 3 am on a Saturday night on Laugevegur.




A few other favorites that I didn't take pictures of:

The Pools. An Icelandic tradition and favorite social activity, Reykjavik is home to several public pools. They feature hot pots and bigger pools heated at or around 38 degrees celsius. Locals go to the pools to hang out with family and friends, relax a bit or even go on dates (it's a common 2nd date). If you go to Iceland, you have to check out a few local pools!
Saegreifinn. Owned to a retired sea captain who lives upstairs, Saegreifinn serves delicious fish kebobs fresh from the ocean and lobster soup. It is delicious.
Harlem Bar. A super-fun bar/club with good djs. On our last night in town, a few of the guys from Sigur Ros were djing. It was awesome.