good road trip, bad pictures

work gave me three comp days this week and last night i realized that i really should go to one of my favorite beach spots, el matador. it took me a while to get there, but i have always preferred the scenic route and was childishly happy to see all the neighborhoods that wind over sunset and up the pacific coast highway. i stopped at an old pizza shack for lunch and then bought some organic vegetables from a malibu market before i ended up here. BEAUTIFUL.

never one to be the 'outdoor type', i do like to walk a beach and let the sound of the ocean drown everything out . and one of my favorite things to do is collect shells and sea glass and this is one of the best places in southern california to do so.

after i hiked down the hill and under some sea caves i found the sea shell / sea glass MECCA and started collecting my loot!! i've only been to el matador with my friend cindy, who introduced me to the locale, and an ex. and they both drove. there was something very liberating about making the trek on my own, like i should always default to it when i'm looking for something to do on a day off. btw, the arrows are pointing at starfish attached to the rocks!!! my back hurts from bending it for hours, but i consider that a happy memory...

p.s. it was REALLY windy so the camera phone was worse than usual...

p.s.s. just tried to check in on ryan adams and i think he has DELETED his blog. he was just having a nice time in paris last time i read....

update: already he is back. no more postings of his non-postings....

update 4/27/08: he's been gone again since friday...

could this be the demise of the 'i'm allergic to cats' excuse?

You know the accepted wisdom that married men live longer than their bachelor brethren? Well, Crazy Cat Ladies (and Mens) are more likely to live longer than those without feline friends. (Kind of.) A study conducted by researchers at the University of Minnesota has found that people without cats as pets are 30-40% more likely to die of cardiovascular disease. Inspired by other studies that suggest that pets help reduce stress, the researchers, including stroke expert Dr. Adnan Qureshi, analyzed a group of almost 4,500 people who had answered questions regarding pet ownership and cardiovascular health risks. Says Qureshi: "With this new research, I think the time has come to [get a cat]." [Dallas Morning News]

funny valentine

for YOU (and you know who you are). thanks, very much. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

favorite video

if i had one wish now for my echo parck life, it would be that my friend manny marquez could be HUGELY recognized for his directorial work on this AMAZING music video: ferraby lionheart's small planet. whether intentional or not, i see 'le petit prince' all over the intro, and i love it. plus, i love the modern touch of the beautiful heroine sporting a page-boy haircut (how sweet is the tree scene?). the last segments were shot on the grounds where i first met manny and his girlfriend, leigh; elysian park, last july 4th. like it as much as i do, won't you?

happy new year

when i was packing up my mom's house a few years back, i came across an old box of vintage post cards for every occasion and was immediately smitten with them. i think they were her mother's. today i finally got my scanner to work and this is what i scanned. isn't it great? i might have to start picking one to scan for every holiday from now on. happy new year.

happy holidays: the original

(we actually had our first happy holidays session at marc jacobs in l.a. over thanksgiving) our original session finds me on a date with a toy soldier and jeanie hanging out with her angelic pal the sugar plum fairy. cut to the second shot and they are not as sweet as they appear, huh?
suddenly jeanie decides she wants to drive the swan boat and all holiday hell breaks loose.
i decide that pointing is my best option.
are we happy? are we scared? are we sexy? who knows (but that shirt sure makes me look like the toy soldier may have knocked me up).

this was so much fun! when we went to look for the images on the m.j. website they were lost. so when i returned nyc last week we had to go and try to recreate the magic. as you can see below the nyc marc jacobs peeps weren't as uninhibited as the l.a, ones. thankfully, today the l.a. photo people called me, tracked the lost images and sent them my way. merry christmas to me!!

happy holidays!

back to nyc.
back to the marc jacobs store on bleecker.
i got to see it snow twice!! i love it here.


shows of the week: i saw the beautiful citizens band perform 'the panic is on' at the ars nova and the awesome beardneck telecaster (which includes members of dirty on purpose) and insanely talented and fun cheeseburger at the knitting factory for jin's 5th year anniversary for on the moon music and jinners.com. FUN!