Wanderlust: Holiday in the Sun

Ah, January -- back to reality. I hope you all had a lovely holiday. Before we get back into the regular swing of things, I wanted to share some snaps of our winter break. We hit the road heading south in search of sunshine and swanky retro fabulousness, and for the most part, that's what we got.

So this is the house we rented in Palm Springs. I meant to take a few snaps inside, but then forgot. Dwell on Design did a video tour of the place a few years ago (click on "Wexler Harrison House"). The furnishings are all different now, but you'll get the idea.

This house is really all about the backyard, anyway.

I think I took these pictures of the kids frolicking in the pool on Christmas Eve. It's just wrong, I know.

Elvis and Priscilla spent their wedding night here.

Trina Turk Residential was fun in an over-the-top, Palm Beach kind of way. (I was too shy to snap pics there; the ones above were borrowed from The Contemporist.) And there was the 111 Antique Mall, a great jumble of a secondhand store in a random strip mall north of downtown. (Thanks to the always-chic Maison 21 for the tip on that one!) I lusted after a pristine and decently priced set of teak dining chairs and a bunch of midcentury pottery there, but didn't get a chance to return for them after my initial hurried run through the shop. Just as well, because we're totally broke.

All told, though, I have to say that I wasn't too impressed with the shopping in Palm Springs. The other stores I visited were mostly obscenely overpriced midcentury boutiques (trust me -- you can do way better on eBay and craigslist) or equally overpriced trend emporiums that looked like a Z Gallerie exploded inside. Asylum, pictured above, was probably the least offensive of them. Elsewhere, I saw a lot of things that I'm positive the shop owners picked up at Pier 1, the Z, and even IKEA and tripled the price on before putting them out on their floors.

Besides shopping and driving around random neighborhoods, my favorite thing to do on vacation is hang out at hotels we can't actually afford to stay in. And, of course, you simply can't go to Palm Springs without checking out the Jonathan Adler-designed Parker.

I'm finding myself less and less of a fan of Adler's pottery and product design (most of which seems to be shamelessly ripped off from original midcentury pieces). But I still love his interiors, which have a great sense of exuberance, wit, and fun.

The Parker's lounge almost makes me miss my parents' circa-1974 living room. Almost.

Plus, the grounds are gorgeous.

Brunch on the patio at Norma's. There were a lot of hungover, sunglasses-sporting Hollywood hipster types sucking down Bloody Marys when we visited.

The gift shop is a bit Legally Blonde, no?

Here's Nick hamming it up at Mister Parker's. If you're in the area and want to drink old-school cocktails and spend $400 on dinner (thanks, Mom!), this is the place for you.

We also stopped by Kelly Wearstler's Viceroy Hotel, which was super-glam and swanky. I'm pretty sure this is the yellow-and-white tile wall featured on the cover of Modern Glamour. Can't you just picture Kelly striking a pose here in some insane couture ball gown?

One of the cleaning ladies saw us wandering around drooling, took pity on us, and invited us to poke our heads inside a Viceroy suite. Sweet!

One of the property's three pools. If I ever win the lottery, I'm moving here.

The pool cabana, darlings.

The recently refurbished Riviera Resort is more Vegas than Palm Springs, but is definitely worth a gander.

These portraits of local legends (this one is Bob Hope, of course) were made entirely of sparkly bits of metal. Sadly, the shot I took of the pre-surgery Cher in all her glory didn't turn out.

My 13-year-old says he want to be a cabana boy here when he grows up. That's right -- aim high, my love.

In a future life, I think I'll need an enormous, patent-leather wing chair.

Something about this place makes me want to drink whiskey and eat steak.

One day, we actually got out of town to explore the desert. (Sara Bethell, I hope you're happy.) I am so not a nature person, but I'll admit that Joshua Tree is pretty amazing. Strangely, though, I still haven't found what I'm looking for ...

OK, on to L.A.: I would love to tell you that we did fabulously cool things there -- but the fact is, we mostly drove around kind of aimlessly, tried to visit a bunch of stores that were closed for the holidays (of the ones we managed to get in, ReForm School was my favorite), did some dorky touristy stuff the kids begged to do, and sat around at my sister- and brother-in-law's little Silverlake bungalow, noshing on vegan treats and watching DVR'ed episodes of Whatever, Martha. (I'm now completely addicted -- and think I may be even more terrified of Alexis Stewart than I am of her mother. Thanks, guys!) It was lovely, if not terribly exciting.

Dinner at the Farmer's Market with Nick's beautiful sister and her hilarious husband.

My husband makes a pilgrimage to the Hollywood Forever Cemetery and Sunset Strip Guitar Center.

The weather was insane -- mid 70s and sunshine the whole time we were there.

There's no questionable taste quite as awesome as L.A. questionable taste; don't miss the naked statues of David in the background. (Photo courtesy of my BIL.)

All in all, it was great fun -- although we're going to be eating rice, beans, and Top Ramen and Netflixing it on date night for months while our wallets recover.

How were your holidays?