I want to move to New York.

Well no, I don't, but this sort of makes me want to: Flower school with Sarah from Saipua! I follow her blog because she's hilarious and has the most beautiful flower arrangements. How fun to be able to take a class taught by her! Especially now that I'm a floral designer. Hehe... I don't think I can call myself that until I officially get paid for putting together flower arrangments and have business cards. Until then, I am a flower enthusiast.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Mickey pancakes with walnut eyes for you! My pops drove down this weekend (on the 1! Took forever...) to come and visit us over his birthday weekend. We had a great time. He came late on Friday so I made dinner (halibut with a sauteed orange and garlic radicchio- super tasty but we had the windows open and all of the alley cats smelled the halibut and came begging. We relented of course.). Saturday Jan came down to hang out and we went to get my dad his birthday present, an iPhone. We have since spent the weekend teaching him how to use it. Which was really his present, considering we didn't buy the phone! Our tech support and our love is what he gets. :)

We had pizza on 2nd street for lunch, and then italian again for dinner at our favorite, La Paralocchia in Long Beach. That place is awesome. Food coma ensued and we called it an early night. This morning was his actual birthday so we made a big breakfast here at home and Mandy and Seth, Jerod and Karen all came over to celebrate. We made croissants, walnut wheat pancakes with apricot syrup, scrambled eggs with bell peppers and onions, and lots of strong coffee and juice. It was the start we needed because then we went kayaking and paddlesurfing in the Huntington canals. The weather was warm and foggy but then it cleared up to blue skies and melting-skin sun. We were starving after the exertion so we went and got burgers for lunch. Dad had a double chili cheese artery clogger but he offset the heart attack by substituting a salad for fries. Admirable.

Dad has most of the pics on his camera so those will come later. I snapped a few gems.

Hello, adorable...

We just put an offer on this cute little button of a house! Isn't it charming? And it's right around the corner from Mandy and Seth! Super convenient for when Mandy and I are business partners. :) We did a drive by with my dad who is visiting for the weekend (more pics of that later!) and he snapped this picture with his brand new iPhone. Not bad for a beginner!

Welcome to the Married Club!

Congratulations Matt and Jana! Your wedding was one of the most original and beautiful ones I've been to, we had such a good time and we're so thankful to have been included in your special day. :)

Flowerz 4-EVA by Mandy & Liv

Now open for business! Mandy and I have started a floral design company. And by "company" I mean Mandy and I getting together and arranging LA flower mart flowers for a friend's wedding. We had a really good time doing the flowers for Matt and Jana's wedding in Camarillo last Saturday and realized it could be a super cool side venture until the economy picks up or gay marriage is legalized and then we'll do it full time and rake in the dough! We went to the flower mart on Friday and loaded up the Yaris with a ton of gorgeous flowers and plants and then spent the entire day cutting, arranging, drinking, bbqing pizza, more arranging, begging the boys for back massages and back cracks (note to self- get workbenches for "company") and then more arranging. We were so pleased with the end result though and luckily so were the bride and groom! More pictures of the wedding in the next post, this one is dedicated to fleurs...









Jana promised to send us the photographer's nice pictures of the arrangements which were all in vintage silver pieces. You know, for our company's portfolio.

Does Danish Modern go with Art Deco?

We might find out. Jeff and I put offer #9 on a historic art deco airstream style home in Mandy and Seth's Wrigley neighborhood this week and we're crossing our fingers. The price was reduced 40K putting it into our budget so we're hoping it's so style specific that it's scaring away all the other buyers. This house is not for the stylistically faint of heart. It's 1700 square feet (huge!) with a gorgeous dining room that would be perfect for our favorite piece of furniture, but it has crazy art deco pyramid details throughout. It's super unique and I'm inspired by the design challenges it presents. And I'm hoping we get it so the producers from Dexter that keep filming the show in Long Beach because it looks like Miami will knock on our door and ask if they can shoot a few episodes in it. OF COURSE! A girl can dream...

Still waiting to hear about the Barlin house too...tick tock tick.

Infected Mushroom

I'm stealing all of these posts from Jeff's blog by the way. I have my audience, he has his. So Jeff did the cover work for an album for Infected Mushroom, an Israeli trance band? Maybe? I haven't heard their music yet but apparently they have quite the following. They must, because they also have an iPhone app game that Jeff also designed!! It's really neat. It has the characters you see in this painting popping out from behind trees as you're running through a forest and you bop them over the head with a big stick. Download it and play!

Jeff's NY trip

This was the Green Label Art party premiering the artists and their pieces for the Mtn. Dew bottles. Jeff and the artist UPSO outside of the party.
Jeff's Zoo York GLA schwag. Kind of unfortunate about that Mountain Dew logo on the sleeve but I guess they kind of had to Dew it.
It looks so fancy in a glass case with spotlights!
They also made prints of some of Jeff's latest work and hung those up too. It was so fortunate that Jeff's show opening at the Last Rites Gallery happened the same night! Hopefully people from the GLA party went to his show too!
Creepy.

Renegade Craft Fair in Chicago

I'm seriously considering scrapping the whole "Let's buy a house!" idea and just going on a crazy spending spree at Renegade Handmade and maybe J. Crew. Oh how they taunt me with their lovely new fall fashions...

My latest wishlist items:
Original Artwork by Jill Bliss


Skinny fit ankle cords in oh let's see, every color.


A red gingham button-down for Jeff (which he'll never wear if I buy it for him because he doesn't like me "styling him")


And Nelson Cigar Sconces for nightime reading in bed.


It's fun to internet shop, fill up the shopping cart, and then close your browser window and sigh.

Liv = Not a Facebook Fan

I really just don't get it. I'm a big fan of timesucks (hi Google Reader!) but Facebook is not my favorite. So in case y'all are inviting me to be your friends, thanks! But it'll probably take me a few weeks to log in and accept your friendship, and then don't expect to ever get any updates or comments for me. Sorry...

Her name is Cindy. I want her.

Another bites the dust

Offer #6, a lovely vintage home in Lakewood, got shot down this week. Offer #5 on Barlin is still active though and we're waiting to hear if we were beat out by the three other offers. I'd say fingers crossed, but that hasn't really been working for us. So everyone turn around and not look at us and pretend we're not even trying to buy a house.

Last Rites

Jeff leaves tomorrow afternoon for New York to do some more Mountain Dew GLA press and to attend his opening at the Last Rites Gallery in Chelsea. Most of the pieces got shipped late last week (you're welcome FedEx!) and he's bringing the last two procrastination pieces in his carry-on. They look awesome! I'm digging the pepto pink he used... If you're in the NY area, please stop by and check out the show! The Last Rites Gallery is located at 511 W. 33rd Street, NYC, ph: (212)529.0666.

Green Label Artists!

The Mountain Dew Green Label Art website was just updated with the series 6 bottles artists that includes Jeffy! Check it out here: www.greenlabelart.com Click on Artists and you'll see Jeff's bio video which is cool. You can also click on the gallery tab next to video to see some of Jeff's other recent work.


Then to see the sweatshirt sweepstakes prize Jeff designed with Zoo York, click here:
www.greenlabelgear.com


Bottles are being sold in stores all around the country now so keep an eye out for Jeff's!

Resignment.

We were about to be chosen for the winning bid on the Arbor house, and then Mr. Moneybags swooped in with 400K cash and took it. Enjoy your house, jerk.

R.I.P. MJ. Finally.

Yet another LA spectacle. I wonder how many people are taking time off to attend this...

That image is an Indiana Jones movie poster that Jeff painted over for a show at the 1988 Gallery up in San Francisco titled "Now Playing". It scared the bejesus out of me when I got home one day and it was rolled out on the dining table.