california christmas

We're definitely excited to be heading to the Midwest for a white Christmas in a few days, but we've also been enjoying a warm, sunny, palm tree-style holiday season.

These pictures are from the Grove, an outdoor mall in the Beverly Hills area adjacent to the original Los Angeles Farmers Market.

A gigantic Christmas tree made of shopping carts outside the coffee shop down the street.

The Pepperdine campus decorated for Christmas, looking across the ocean to the sunset.

Our living room.

unique los angeles art and design sale

Last weekend, Jesse and I went to Unique LA, a large art and design sale held in downtown Los Angeles in the Fashion District. We spent most of the day checking out all of the products, and I thought I would highlight a few of our favorites here. Several of the design blogs I follow have been posting holiday gift guides, so this is sort of my own personal version. :) Most of these pieces are for sale online, and I have included links. All photos are from the vendor websites.

The Weekend Store was one of the busiest booths at the fair. They sell jewelry made with old typewriter keys, watch parts, maps, and other vintage objects.

This is just one example of dozens of posters created by The Poster List.
All sort of pop-art style, there are so many great designs to choose from, and at a good price - $10.99 for one or five for $40.

Jesse and I loved these California-style digitally manipulated photos printed on wood by 33 Stewart Avenue. The artist, Sean Finocchio, also has a great series of New York food carts.

This peppermint lavender citrus goats' milk soap by Chivas smells SO good. It's made by a mother-daughter duo with fresh milk from goats that they raise on their farm. I can't wait to use it!

These Kauzbots are so eye-catching, and well-made on top of it. Each color of robot represents a specific cause, to which 10% of each sale ($24.99) is given.

I am the proud owner of this necklace, by metal artist Sasha Bell. She also has a lot of other more complex pieces, but at $30, this is a great piece of affordable, wearable art (my favorite kind!).

Felted pebbles by Delica. Not entirely sure how I would use them, but they're just so soft and charming. They also have great felted necklaces and bowls.

This letterpress clock by Dee & Lala is so finely printed, and a unique use of the craft. They also sell lovely cards.

One of the other great products that I didn't actually get to see (Jesse saw them while I was taking a book-making workshop) are flipbooks by Flip Clips that you can have made from short digital video footage. How fun!

our cozy (and by cozy, i mean small) apartment

Here are some pictures of our cozy Santa Monica apartment:

Entry way

View of the living room

Another view of the living room, with windows looking across to the park

The kitchen, with the door to the back deck open

(A note on the back deck: it is completely falling apart, and there are warning signs posted all over. Obviously, we can't really use it, except to go downstairs to do laundry. They say they will be fixing it.... On the other hand, we get a nice ocean breeze through the door and window, which is really nice in the summer.)

Jesse and I flew out here for a weekend to look at apartments less than two weeks before we moved out at the beginning of August. We spent one day in a different area of Santa Monica, and had no luck. One of the first places we saw had no toilet seat, a broken faucet in the bathtub, and carpet torn up at the corners. Of course it was the cheapest place we had seen listed, so I don't know what we expected. Our best option from that day was a totally retro 1950s style apartment in a large building. It appeared that nothing has been changed since the 50s: light fixtures, counters, swimming pool, etc. It was so old it was cool again.

The next day we tried the Ocean Park area of Santa Monica and felt much more at home. It's closer to Venice, and felt a little artsier and more laid back. We met a lot of very nice, helpful residents. But we were still having trouble finding apartments willing to accept a dog at all, let alone one over 25 pounds (way over, I might add). Our very favorite apartment had a large deck with an ocean view. We wanted it so badly. I called the management office repeatedly until they answered and then begged, but to no avail. We must love Yuki a lot to give up an ocean view for him.

The third day we were headed to the airport in the morning and stopped at one last place that we had seen advertised on Craig's List with the title, "Right by the beach, mon." We had a good feel from it right from the beginning (once we got past the Craig's List ad). On the way to the airport, we called and told the landlord that we wanted it. Once again, there were questions about Yuki. I begged again. I lied and told them Yuki has never barked in his whole life (actually I think he said he was "not a barker," which is sort of true?). It was a long four-hour flight not knowing if we would get it or not...and not knowing what we would do if they didn't accept us. At that point, NO apartments that we had seen were into having an 80-pound dog. After filling out and faxing in a multi-page application the next day, and waiting several more days, they finally told us it was ours. A week before we moved.

And we love it! It's small, but it's historic. It's in a small building, has beautiful woodwork, is across from the park, two blocks from Main Street, and four blocks from the beach. The only two things we wish it had are wood floors and a second bedroom. But less to clean, right?