I love the idea of commemorating our family's travels in such a visual and tactile way. These Stitching Postcards come in the form of a map (choose from U.S.A., Europe, or World) and accompanying needle and thread, with which you literally stitch your route from one place to another.
Imagine the story that one might eventually tell if you framed and periodically updated it, the crisscrossing strands of thread tracing your journeys across the country or the globe and coalescing to mark the way home.
The postcards are $10 per set from Uncommon Goods.
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Cool Stuff: Stitching Postcards
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Wanderlust: Austin's Hotel San José
Austin, Texas ranks pretty high among my favorite places on the planet. There's just something about that city -- I love its laid-back vibe and lack of pretense, incredible music scene, funky vintage shops, fiery Tex-Mex fare and savory barbecue, and its citizens' seemingly universal dedication to having a good time. (Plus, you really haven't lived until you've seen Junior Brown at the Continental Club.)
In fact, Nick and I would pull up stakes and move to Austin in a heartbeat if I wasn't so pathologically averse to the heat. (I get borderline homicidal any time the mercury inches past 70, and verge on psychotic when it crosses 90. Strangely, though, I did just fine during both of our summertime stays in the Texas capitol. I think maybe I psychologically fight the heat at home here in Northern California, but have no choice but to surrender to it in the sultry South.)
Anyway, I've been daydreaming about our (purely hypothetical) next trip to the Lone Star State -- maybe we could hit SXSW next year? -- and was just reminded of Austin's Hotel San José. We've never stayed there, but know several devotees of the revamped 1939 motor lodge and its utilitarian-chic decor. It's definitely on the "must" list for a future visit, and with rooms starting at $95 a night, it's not a bad deal, either.
Take a gander:
Photo by Jenni Simmons, The Curator
Have you stayed at the Hotel San José? If so, what did you think? Any other Austin tips? Please share!
(Also on the agenda for our next venture south: A side trip to Marfa. Super-trendy, I know -- but it looks amazing.)
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Wanderlust: The Ace Hotel New York
I've been fantasizing endlessly about an adults-only trip to New York this spring. (Unless a couple thousand bucks magically fall out of the sky, it ain't gonna happen. But still.)
We'd do grown-up things the entire time: Shopping from one end of the island (and Brooklyn) to the other, visiting museums and galleries, enjoying meals at trendy eateries, and meeting old friends for drinks. And we'd crash at the brand new, industrial chic Ace Hotel New York. With rooms there starting at just $99 a night -- cheap by Manhattan standards -- that's just about the only part of this scenario that's not straight out of Fantasyland.
Anyway, take a look:
More info on the Ace's new Manhattan outpost here.
(P.S. My visit to the Portland, Oregon Ace is detailed here.)
Monday, January 5, 2009
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?
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