Yay, Me!

A big thanks to Erin at Elements of Style for choosing my work as a runner-up in her Domino Book Contest. It was much fun to do!

The Domino Effect

Now not only is this economy causing people to lose their jobs, it's taking away the simple pleasures in our lives as well. My favorite simple pleasure, Domino magazine, announced today that it will cease publication. March 2009 will be the last issue published. Where am I going to get inspiration from now?? I'm going to have to start paying high dollor for the european imports, I guess. *Sigh*

Decorating Diary: A Preview of This Weekend's Painting Project

The inspiration: Osborne & Little's "Volte-Face" wallcovering.

My tiny apartment needs a bold focal wall. A patterned wallpaper would be the natural choice, but since I’m renting I need something less permanent. So I’ve decided to paint a chevron pattern in a tone-on-tone blue palette. The colors are from Benjamin Moore, but I’ll be using Behr paint from Home Depot in the flat enamel finish. Behr’s paint covers exceptionally well and is less than half the price of BM. And, they will match any color you can bring them!

The Paint!

The Design!

Michelle Obama: New "It" Girl?

A sketch by Monique Lhuillier for the Inaugural Ball gown - gorgeous!

Apparently, everybody wants to dress Michelle Obama! I came across these wonderful sketches while surfing WWD the other day. The uber-chic First Lady is creating a frenzy in the fashion industry! While these designers are all great, I think I prefer when she wears lesser-known people. It speaks volumes of her character when she chooses to seek out unknown talent, knowing her influence on the buying choices of the public, rather than jumping on the Oscar de la Renta bandwagon. Considering she looks fabulous in anything from Jason Wu to J Crew, I’m sure there are many more surprises to come in the world of First Fashion!

Betsey Johnson: No. Fun sketch though.

Michael Kors: An All-American look for an All-American lady. Isaac Mizrahi for Michelle, Sasha, and Maila.

A day look by Diane Von Furstenberg - love it!!

Crisp, clean lines with interesting detail: Classic DVF look for evening.

Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel: Classic and very Jackie-O, but not modern enough for Michelle in my opinion.

Kai Milla: Gorgeous sketch, gorgeous dress!

Elie Tahari: A lovely side-cowl dress for evening.
Carolina Herrera day look.
Carolina Hererra evening look.
A crisp, clean day look by Peter Som.

Another white inaugural ball gown by Peter Som.
Oscar de la Renta gowns for Michelle and her mini-me's. Nicole Miller. Cute, but not special enough for the First Lady.

Marc Jacobs: designing for Michelle but drawing Hilary?

Zac Posen: No. Just... No. She isn't the First Lady of Amish Country!
Tracy Reese: she knows Michelle looks great in purple!

A Reem Acra design for Sasha and Maila...

and for Michelle.

Ralph Rucci: great movement, but where's the color?

Christian LaCroix day look. And the most realistic-looking portrait of Michelle.

Christian LaCroix evening look: a ball gown for SuperWoman.



Update: While perusing the J Crew website this afternoon, I found this lovely sketch of the outfit they created for inauguration week and the girls' coats by Crewcuts. How fun!

Sasha and Maila in their Crewcuts coats.

Wu-ing Michelle

If you saw coverage of last night's Inaugural Ball, I'm sure you noticed the stunning gown worn by the super-stylish Michelle Obama. The gown was designed by 26 year old Parsons graduate Jason Wu. Commissioned last year, Wu's only instruction was it "needed to sparkle". The new First Lady, who is being referred to as "the new Jackie O" looked stunning in the one-shoulder white chiffon number covered in Swarovski crystals. Apparently, the designer fronted the money for the gown himself and says he plans to donate the garment to the Smithsonian, and that it will never be re-created in any collection, in order to preserve the uniqueness of the piece. I have to applaud Michelle for reaching out to young, relatively unknown designers. The First Lady's inaugural day ensemble was also designed by a relative-unknown, Isabel Toledo, a Cuban-born designer who attended my alma mater, the Fashion Institute of Technology. With all of America watching - and copying - what she wears, she has the power to launch careers. Could this be part of her husband's plan to create jobs? OK, probably not, but I'm sure the designers who will now be selling the clothes she wears like hotcakes will feel an economic boost.

Isabel Toledo ensemble, J Crew gloves.

It's Not Unusual

The cast of ABC's The Unusuals.

Michael is alive! Don't worry, this is not a spoiler for Wednesday's season premiere of LOST. Although his character Michael was killed in an explosion on the dramatic season finale of LOST last year, Harold Perrineau lives on as Detective Leo Banks in the new ABC TV show The Unusuals set to air in the spring. The show also stars Amber Tamblyn, sans travelling pants and Adam Goldberg – you know, “that guy who played Chandler’s crazy roommate on Friends” or “that guy from Entourage” or “the guy from How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days”.

The self-proclaimed “modern day M*A*S*H” is a new take on the typical NYC-cop-show, promising equal parts drama and comedy (yes, that's right folks, it's a dramedy). Although the show is set in the Lower East Side, it actually shoots all over the East Village, on my street and around the corner from my apartment. This morning I inadvertently walked right thorough their set on First Avenue between 12th and 13th streets as I was walking head-down to avoid stepping in a slippery ice patch. I glanced up just in time to stroll right past Harold Perrineau.

An interior set shot from an East Village building much like my own.

In New York, celebrity sightings are not unusual (pardon the pun) but being right in the middle of the set action evokes an excitement in me that I need to explore further: the bite of the elusive acting bug. Had I not been on my way to work, on a Federal Holiday nonetheless (thanks White-Republican-Architects-Who-Don’t-Believe-in-Observing-MLK-Day), I could have stood there all day and watched them shoot scenes from across the avenue. (Sidebar: I think Barack Obama’s first act as President should be to make it mandatory that all businesses close to observe MLK Day – too bad he’s not being inaugurated today). Add part-time-actor to my long list of alternative career paths: Lawyer, freelance writer, clothing designer, jewelry designer, actual-interior-designer-instead-of-bullshit-pseudo-architect.

Production street parking closure sign in front of my building.

My acting resume includes background extra in a technology-company commercial that only aired on the West Coast, and supporting actress in the very-independent film “Wizard”, a spoof on the classic “The Wizard of Oz”, where I play Brenda, the Good Witch of the South: a slutty trailer-park throwback with magical powers. Picture Joy from “My Name is Earl”, add a magic wand and pink tiara, and you’ve got Brenda. And when I say independent I mean it: basically my friend Cliff got bored one day, decided to make a movie, and cast all of his friends Kevin Smith-style. I wish I had a link to post, but unfortunately YouTube will not let him upload the movie (Copyright infringement? What?) So it lives on his private Facebook page alone. This spring, I will be heading back to Florida to play a role in the budding Director’s much-anticipated follow-up to “Wizard”, “Burb Wars”, a – you guessed it – spoof on Star Wars, where the Empire is the evil Homeowner’s Association and Luke et al are blue collar workers. Family Guy has done it. Robot Chicken did it less famously. And now it’s our turn to butcher George Lucas’ classic.

In the mean time, I think it’s time to start looking into some beginning acting classes. Although it’s not something I think I would ever try to do full-time, I wouldn’t mind having the occasional background role. If I could ever get past my own awkward self-awareness or ever felt I could add “unemployed whatever” or “aspiring whatever” to my career title, maybe it could become more. But that, for me, would be very unusual.

Cast images from ABC.com

I Wish I Had a Fireplace

And not just because it's 10 below outside. I love my apartment but one thing I really want in my next place is a fireplace - functional or not. It serves as an automatic focal point in any room and a great place to display artwork, mirrors and other decorative objects in lieu of putting up shelves. If I did have a fireplace I would dress it up something like this...

Or this...

Non-functional fireplaces are still nice because you can dress up the insides of them with wallpaper, paint, or mirror.



To quote Joey from "Friends", "You don't own a TV? What's all your furniture pointed at?" Some day I hope my furniture is pointed at a fireplace and not a big black plasma!

The Tip of the Iceberg

Considering the wind chill factor, it is 2 degrees in New York today. Yes, one plus one. My lack of posting lately has been due to many factors but mostly due to the huge undertaking of moving into, organizing and decorating a new apartment. I promise to post some “before’ photos soon but tonight my time will be spent doing the only thing one wants to do on frigid days like this – watching DVR’ed “Scrubs” episodes curled up in my bed under my down comforter, like Cameron Diaz in “The Holiday”, minus the cashmere cap and sexy gentleman caller.