Take a walk with me down by the sea...

Hanging out with relatives over by Ocean Beach yesterday and discovered how much the neighborhood has changed. I lived out there for several months when I first moved here almost 14 years ago and now it seems like lots of hipsters are taking shelter and setting up shop where the rents might be a bit cheaper.

Saw lots of people eating at Outerlands and getting java from Trouble Coffee. I stopped into the General Store and was amazed by their lovely back garden:

 

My partner stopped into the Carville Annex book project and bought a few things:

 

Even the local medical clinic had a hipster reclaimed vibe!

 

So much going on at the end of the N line!

 

 

Girls on film...

The interiors news is kind of slow right now, so I thought I might just report on some cool things I've been seeing lately.

Last night we tried out Farina Pizza and had a pretty good time. The interior space was cool, with character cards from Italian comic Diabolik decorating the ceilings. (For those of you who don't know, I'm a major comic book geek!) I loved it.

 

FYI, Farina Pizza doesn't take reservations!

Umbrella, -ella, -ella, -ella...

Yesterday I was helping out some friends position artwork and family photos for hanging and of course I told them about the "rule" of hanging things around 54" to 56" from floor to center of frame.

But today I just totally broke that rule!

My partner's dresser is pretty high, 56". So the anniversary present I wanted to hang above had to go pretty high, too. From our bed, it looks pretty good. And I repositioned a few accessories to complement the new piece. Check it out:

I really like the piece--it has a Yoshitomo Nara vibe to it, but more cheerful. And a little less sinister.

Because when the sun shines we'll shine together...

It's been a couple of weeks, but this weekend I was busy celebrating my wedding anniversary even though it's not officially till this week (my friends made sure I never forgot the exact date with a gift from my bachelor party...;-)

Anyhow, one of the gifts from my partner was this pastel painting/drawing we spied (and admired) together from Stuff on Valencia Street. It reminded us of our trip to Japan several years ago.

I'll show you how it looks hung up in our bedroom very soon!

All the small things...

It's been a while, but I'm trying to get back on track, especially after the long weekend!

Recent finds:

 

The most adorable leather coin box (in the shape of an owl!) from Community Thrift.

A tiny fish box from One Kings Lane.

 

And here's a little Separated At Birth comparison:

One of my favorite prints from Scalamandre is available as ready-made pillows. I thought they would be ridiculously expensive, but they're not!

 

And if you wanted to mix it up with a companion pillow, Dwell Studio has their homage:

 

Beat on the brat with a baseball bat...

Maybe it's the weather or just that time of the year, but in the past few months we've been plagued by an abnormal number of unexpected nightly visitors. It used to just be the odd neighborhood cat that would land on our doorstep, but recently there have been several human intruders that have wandered to our doorstep--the scariest one was the intruder who tried to put his key into our front lock and open our front door.

!!!!

Luckily, the would-be intruder was drunk as hell and thought he was somewhere else--just a little misunderstanding. Same goes for the young woman who tried to scale our side wall after a night of partying. Or the two guys who were staying with neighbors and got locked out. For some reason, people seem to think my door is the magical portal home. Beam me up, Scotty!

Surprisingly enough, this is the first home my partner and I have had that doesn't have a locked front gate or common lobby area. We do have handy-dandy panic buttons linked to the police, and after a quick trip to Cliff's, bought a really inexpensive wooden axe handle that also doubles as...protection.

We also have a few other tricks up our sleeves in case anyone wants a piece of us. Any tips from readers? What do you do to make your home more secure?

Hong Kong Garden

Yesterday my partner and I went to lunch at the heroic Boulevard Cafe in Daly City before our suburban shopping extravaganza--basically our quarterly Target run, with a first-time-in-a-decade stop at JC Penney's (since I'm beginning to think it's important to support the retailers who support your community.)

Anyhow, while we over there, I saw this AMAZING apartment complex...I couldn't describe it. 1970s Asian? Each cluster of buildings was slightly different, some where Asian, others were Neoclassical (maybe a nod to the Greek community?) And all had varying takes on fretwork on the balconies.

Needless to say, I loved it. Would I want to live there? I don't know...I live in an Edwardian flat right now because it feels like San Francisco. But if I lived in someplace like LA, I think I'd totally want a home in a heroic complex like this: