How nice would it be to have this as a tile pattern somewhere in your house?  And by “your” I mean “my”.

(via here)

These lovely photos were taken in Russian sewage tunnels.  The colours, like the structures themselves, are caused by the build up of various types of minerals over time.  Unfortunately I’m not sure who actually took the photos, but look here to see more.

Absolutely fantastic.

(via here)

Machine Project is a small, local not-for-profit gallery in Los Angeles…  my husband used to do design for them from time to time, and we still keep up on their goings on.  This most recent installation is pretty awesome.  Christy McCaffrey and Sara Newey turned the Machine Project space into a mini forest.  Can’t wait to check it out…

They turned this:

Into this:

Check out the Machine Project flickr set for more photos…  (btw, how lame is it that when I look at this, aside from thinking “Awesome!” my second thought is, “Have fun cleaning it up!”).

Sorry for the lack of posts- the hubby and I went out of town for our 3rd anniversary this weekend.  We headed out on Friday morning and got back yesterday.  It was a leisurely weekend at the newly opened Ace Hotel and Swim Club in Palm Springs, mostly spent in the pool.  One day we ventured out into downtown Palm Springs, but I can’t really say that I felt there was much to report.  It’s one of those places that requires a local to show you the good stuff.   Anyway, we made good use of the Amigo Room and Kings Highway restaurant which are part of the Ace Hotel.

The Kings Highway Restaurant is very tasty… everything is presented in mason jars or glass bottles, which is lovely.  It has the atmosphere of old diner which has been revamped into a more cleanly-modern establishment.  My favourite meal was their ricotta pancakes with maple crunch butter.  When you order their coffee, you pay about $4 for a french press full of rich and delicious Stumptown coffee, perfect for a table of two.  Seth ordered their brisket burger and fries, which was apparently amazing.

Out by the pool we ordered boozy snowcones and beer.  Pretty awesome.  The Amigo Room bar had what seemed to be great drink specials on their menu like: “Whiskey Ginger”- Jameson Irish whiskey, honey, ginger juice & cinnamon tincture or “Dark and Stormy”- Appleton rum, Gosling rum, ginger beer & lime; sounds great right?  I came with the memory of my amazing Whiskey Ginger from Clyde Common in Portland (part of the Ace Hotel up there).  Unfortunately they were mixed poorly and were super sweet.  I suspect that the bartender had never actually sampled and of the drinks on their special menu.  I will cut them some slack since they just opened and are probably still training staff to make their special elixirs!

Anyway, it was a lovely place and we had a very relaxing time.  I totally recommend it if you need a little weekend away and you don’t want to do much but swim, drink, eat, and enjoy the company of your boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse!

I’m very excited.  My husband just booked us into the newly opened Ace Hotel in Palm Springs for our 3rd anniversary.  It looks like it will be beautiful.  Any specific suggestions as to what there is to do and see in Palm Springs?  I haven’t been there since I was a child, and all I remember are a lot of date stands where you can get things like “date shakes” (I guess that dates are something you can grow successfully in a desert).   Anyway, I’m totally looking forward to it!

I wish I were here…  I mean, how beautiful and intriguing is this installation!?

Go here for the original article.

(from this great Flickr photostream by Nequest)

Seth and I were very excited this week. Seth received an update from the Hammer Museum regarding their tours of architect John Launter’s homes. This was great news! However, scrolling down the email looking at the prices of the tours, he was surprised to see that with prices starting at $55 per ticket, up to $145 per ticket, the tours are not exactly priced for the lowly student, or the architectural fan who is short on cash (perhaps from paying back all those student loans for a degree in design or architecture)… oh, and did I mention that for the $145 tours you must also be a member of the Hammer Museum already? That would be an extra $50 per person making the cost a whopping $195 for that first tour.

Anyway, it would seem that this is an attempt at a collaboration to raise money for the Lautner Foundation, which I admire, but I feel that perhaps it is a misplaced effort. If the idea was perhaps to draw “quality over quantity”, then they have succeeded. However, I think the people who most need to take these tours are people that typically would not be able to see such creations.

Even if you don’t know Lautner by name, you know his buildings. They’ve been in so many movies, most notably (in our household anyway) the Sheats-Goldstein home appearing as the residence of one Mr. Jackie Treehorn in the Big Lebowski.