Little Treasures

As you may have read on a previous post, I will be traveling to the Pacific Northwest in a few weeks. Besides seeing the Chihuly exhibits or even visiting the original Starbucks in Seattle, I'm actually looking forward to finding the miniature horses on the sidewalks of Portland, Oregon. I think my kids would enjoy going on a little scavenger hunt while we are there.

An artist named Scott Wayne Indiana noticed the abandoned horse rings along the Portland sidewalks (apparently back in the early 1900s, people used to tie their horses and carts to the rings) and decided to tie miniature plastic horses to them. His little art project continues to this day with the Portland people starting The Horse Project which encourages the public to tie their own horses (or other animals to them).

(above photos via)

Which got me thinking about other more local scavenger hunts that may be fun to know about. 

I'm sure you've heard about the hidden Mickeys at Disneyland. There are over 100 hidden Mickeys throughout the Anaheim Disneyland Park. A hidden Mickey is a partial or complete image of Mickey Mouse purposely hidden or blended into its surroundings. Some are pretty obvious:

(photo by Terry Hodges)

Some not so much (these are tiny rivets on the iron guards around the front entrance trees):

Go check out this website to find the most up to date list of hidden Mickeys for the Disneyland Park in Anaheim. Have fun finding them all. 

At Legoland in Carlsbad, California, Miniland USA is the attraction to visit. It's a small scale replica of major cities in America. Apparently in Miniland USA there is only one bathroom built into this attraction. I believe it is located in the New York City section. Find it and be amused.

(via Flickr)

Can there be such a thing as a hidden bridge in my own hometown of San Diego? I was born and raised in San Diego and only recently heard about the two "hidden" bridges. Both the Quince Street Bridge (located between third and fourth avenue over Maple Canyon) and the Spruce Street Bridge (located between fourth and fifth avenue over Kate Sessions Canyon) were built in the early 1900s. Both are hidden neighborhood bridges that are used mostly by pedestrians. The Quince is an old trestle bridge and the Spruce is an old suspension bridge (or as the locals call it "the wiggly bridge"). These bridges are not exactly little treasures, but they are certainly hidden treasures that I can appreciate for the fact they've been around over 100 years and I only now knew about them.  

Have any hidden or secret treasures in your neck of the woods?

Happy Paddy's Day

I do not believe there is any Irish blood in my vast filipino background, but that didn't stop me from celebrating St. Patrick's Day growing up. I remember as a kid I was so afraid of not wearing green because that would usually result in me getting a swift and painful pinch from my siblings. 

In celebration of St. Paddy's Day, this blog post is done DesignStylePop! style:

(via)

Design. San Diego's Emerald Plaza Building, located in downtown San Diego, is probably the most visible sight when you fly into San Diego at night. It's the fifth tallest building in San Diego clocking in at 450 feet. It's architectural style is post-modern. It is quite literally our own Emerald City.

Style. I've always admired Monique Lhuillier's fashion. The fact that she is also part-Filipino doesn't hurt, but at the same time she has a wonderful sense of what looks good on a woman by highlighting and enhancing our femininity by her common use of lace and flowing chiffon. Her Fall 2013 collection I'm completing loving, there is such an opulence to it. She even uses Pantone's color of the year (Emerald) to good effect. 

Pop. Kermit the Frog is my favorite muppet. His Rainbow Connection performance sitting by the lily pond strumming on his banjo was as touching as they come. Kermit was always a little too unsure of himself- reminds me of myself. So it was nice to see this inspirational billboard on the freeway from the Foundation for a Better Life. Even a frog like Kermit should feel confident and proud and show to everyone that it is easy "being green."

Happy St. Patrick's Day to you all!

Landmarks

Landmarks can be places, buildings or structures that are easily recognizable to others and sometimes hold cultural significance. The world over knows the Statue of Liberty, The Eiffel Tower, even the Hollywood Sign in Los Angeles. I myself stand in awe of some of these landmarks when I see it person.

But the odd in me likes the landmarks that hold more of a significance to the locals. These landmarks are treasured for being unique to their city, a tad bit weird, and shall I say charming.  

(via flickr by gfpeck)

The Smiling Face Water Tower in Grand Forks, North Dakota is adorable.  One side of the tower has both eyes open, but the other side is what gets me: the sly wink and the dapper blue bow tie. Almost makes me wish they would build another Smiling Face 'Girl' Water Tower next to him so he'll have someone to flirt with.   

(Franck photos/Alamy)

The smiling Jimmy Carter peanut in Plains, Georgia is a little creepy to me with his big Jimmy Carter toothy smile and absence of any eyes--but after awhile I'm sure he grows on you and he becomes a bit cute.  And if you know me, I like me my creepy and cute.

(photo by Jeremy L Wilbur)

Okay, the Fremont Troll in Seattle, Washington, is not that cute, but he is odd in a charming way. He was built in 1990 under the George Washington Memorial Bridge. He is clutching a VW car (which we will assume he grabbed from the bridge) and has a hubcap for an eye. Apparently in Fremont, there have been "troll sightings" ever since the bridge went up in the 1930s. I guess now there is a permanent troll sighting. 

Which brings me to my own town.  I grew up in San Diego near a community called Lemon Grove that had this big yellow lemon near the trolley tracks. 

(via San Diego blog)

The giant lemon would definitely be considered a distinctive landmark in San Diego, but my heart actually belongs to another landmark in Lemon Grove that has stood the test of time and still captures my attention when I pass by it: The Lemon Grove Lips.

(via Flickr)

The lips are actually natural formation of rocks on a hillside off route 94.  Legend has it that in 1977 a teenager named Steven Garcia saw lips in this rocky formation and painted it bright red. Over the years, the locals have maintained it's plump lips and on occasions the lips would be painted for special occasions (I still remember when they painted Charger bolts on it when our football team made it to their only Super Bowl in 1994). 

Any local landmarks you know of that are a bit odd, but beloved?

Merry Christmas

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday from my family here in San Diego. 

(photo via Balboa Park)

Kids and modern furniture

Used to be in the day that modern furniture and kids did not mix. Sometimes that saying still holds water. My husband and I had purchased a Bo Concept sleek, white, microfleece sofa from one of our favorite modern furniture stores in San Diego, Hold It.  It was our first major purchase for our home. When our son, Milo, was born in 2007, that sofa became a breeding ground for Milo's spit up, pee, and whatever else comes out of babies. We ended up giving away our sofa. 

Although, we learned our lesson about buying bright white furniture when you have little kids who by nature will spill or spit something on them leaving difficult stains to remove - we still did not give up on buying modern furnishings. We ended up purchasing the black Karlstad sofa from IKEA. The kids love it plus it was comfortable, affordable and stylish enough to satisfy my husband and my tastes.

(sorry about the poor quality photo)

Eventually when Milo becomes the next Justin Bieber and Stella the next Taylor Swift, or Steve Jobs since they both know how to navigate the IPhone and IPad with such ease, I will be able to afford more furniture from our favorite modern furniture shops in San Diego. Until then, I will continue to window shop and find reasons to take cute kids on furniture pictures. Recently my family went to Mixture in the heart of Little Italy in San Diego. Mixture is a modern and contemporary home furnishing and accessories store.  It's a 3-story open loft with a courtyard in the back.

I figured out the best way to buy modern furnishing, if you have small kids, is to see what they gravitate towards. My son found the furniture he liked the most and told me to take photos of him on "something cool." So I quickly deduced that my son is (a) a narcissist and (b) has good taste (his little sister, Stella, just tagged along).

(urchin poufs by Christien Meindertsma)

(Livingstones by Stephanie Marin)

(Cake by Swan Italy)

(love their outdoor "Day of the Dead" decorations)

(Sledge by De La Espada)

(Horse lamp by Front)

There are always going to be compromises in one's life, especially when it comes to your children. Our home decor was definitely one of those compromises, but I managed to have fun with it and still find furnishing for our home that kept our sense of style intact and all those spills contained!

San Diego makes me Blue

I'll be blogging quite a bit about the city I was born, raised and now live in.  San Diego certainly lives up to it's title "America's finest city."  San Diego was also voted the luckiest city by Men's Health Magazine in 2011 (the most hole-in-ones, the most Mega Millions and Powerball winners, and the least deaths by lightning strikes!).  Let's also throw in our beautiful beaches to the west, our mountains to the east, Shamu, World Famous Zoo, Comic Con, enjoyable weather and our delicious fish tacos....I can go on and on...

But this is a blog about design and style and color is an important component of both.  Color elicits moods and attracts the eye.  If there is a color that epitomizes San Diego it would be blue. Not primary blue, but aqua blue and baby blue.  Those blues make you think of relaxation and serenity.

The best example of this is our Coronado Bridge, which is becoming iconic to San Diego as the Golden Gate Bridge is to San Francisco.

(photo by Travels by Monkey via flickr)

The bridge was opened in 1969 and was quickly recognized for it's beauty in 1970 by receiving The Most Beautiful Bridge of Merit by the American Institute of Steel Construction.  The blue color was chosen to blend with sky and sea.  The Coronado Bridge also has a graceful curve to it that is best appreciated from afar.  Driving on this bridge is another experience entirely - a little bit scary and exhilarating at once but the views from above are spectacular.  

This Blue can be found everywhere you look in San Diego. I took this photo from the Cabrillo National Monument:

(via iphone)

Lest I forget about style in San Diego in regards to the color blue, we only need to look at our own San Diego Charger football team:

(photo by Mike Nowak via San Diego Chargers)

Their throwback uniforms are generally regarded as one of the best uniforms in sports history. The perfect pairing, aesthetically speaking, between a sports team and a city.  Even though the Chargers got embarrassed on national television this past Monday night, they at least looked good doing it.  Way to go Throwback Uniforms!