Paper Trail

Cavallini & Co. has some of the best gifts, cards and paper around. Here is a round-up of some of my faves:

For gifts as festive as the tree:




For all the pretty pictures:

Dreaming of a Write Christmas

I love, love, love holiday cards. Now I just wish that I was better at sending them out! These Series III cards from Potion Brand might inspire me to make new resolution this year! You can order them from TrunkT. $18 for 12 cards and 12 envelopes.

Ornamental

It's the first day of December! Maximize the astral influences with a monthly overview from Susan Miller's Astrology Zone . Her horoscopes are lengthy, informative and fun.

Christmas is on the way and it's time to dust off the ornaments. Why not add a few new treasures to your collection? I love this classic blue Wedgewood ornament.

Spirit Renewal

My reason for not writing this past week is that I was spending a wonderful and relaxing vacation with my family at the Hotel Hana Maui . Perched on a lush grass hill that rolls down to craggy rocks and a pounding Pacific are the Sea Cottages, where we stayed. No phones, no radio, no TV, just you and your imagination. There is so much beauty and so much spirit in the sea -- not only in the mercurial jewel tone shades of blue, but in the sheer force of the impact, the sound and the spray.

The staff at the hotel become an extension of your own family. They are generous and warm and genuinely happy to help and to welcome you to what is essentially their home. Many of the employees are third generation and most live in Hana.

The Honua Spa was voted #2 in the country and along with being beautiful, and serene it also has cutting edge treatments. Maybe cutting edge is the wrong word (words), because the Tai massage that I had apparently dates back to the Buddha. Cynthia is a gifted masseuse/healer and has been with the hotel for 12 years. The Watsu treatment is relatively new to me, but apparently has been around for 25 years or so. Being nearly submerged for nearly an hour, floating without restraint, being guided and stretched, while music played in the water, was an unusually freeing feeling. Fin, my therapist, was excellent and like Cynthia, very much a healer.

I can't wait to try these treatments again. If anyone knows of or has had a wonderful experience with these two treatments, please let me know!

These are some places I intend to try:

Thai Sabai in Westwood and Thai town.
From their site:

Brief History:
Traditional Thai Massage, also known as Ancient Massage or Thai Yoga Massage, dates back more than three hundred years in its present form, with its origins going back more than 5,000 years to ancient India and China. While Thai Massage combines elements of Ayeurvedic medicine, Hatha yoga and Chinese acupressure, it has evolved into a system that is entirely unique and is widely regarded as one of the best systems of therapeutic massage.

Benefits of Thai Massage:
Many health benefits have been associated with Thai Massage, including:

Relief from stress and muscle tension
Relief from aches and pains
Improved circulation
Unblocking and balancing of energy flow
Detoxification of the internal organs
Improved alignment
Increased flexibility and range of motion
A general increase in energy
Improved mood



WATSU (WATer shiaTSU) is a little bit harder to find in LA. Two Bunch Palms in the Desert has a bunch (heehee) of aquatic therapies .

Fire Place

Need a place to hang your stockings? These tabletop logs by Carl Mertens are just right for a home without a hearth. Now all you need are the marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers! Find them along with a host of other creative gifts at Green Grass Design .

Ho, Ho, Ho . . .I know!

Ok, I know it's not even Thanksgiving, but I couldn't resist telling you about these fun Christmas stockings from the girls at Hable.

A note about the Pack of Dogs stockings: "Our wool felt stockings are hand made in Hungary by a womens' cooperative that uses traditional applique techniques to produce our designs."

Though it is just before Turkey Day, you might want to get a jump on these -- they are limited and selling out fast!

Home Plate

I love these illustrated plates from John Derian, called The Tree of Life . They are available at Lille along with these other wonderful things, also from John Derian :

Bowled Over

These just made me smile. My Nature Bowling Set is for baby to help develop motor skills. I think it's just too darn cute and it's at the always amusing Patina .

Baby Style

For lovely and entrepreneurial moms Olivia Haskell-Kazanjian and Ellen Uzarowicz, there just wasn't enough stylish baby gear. Their home grown company Right Bank Babies is now solving that problem for families all over Los Angeles. Everything from car seat covers to jumpers to burp cloths are all in sophisticated, classic and whimsical prints.

The Frame Game

Forget bulletin boards, line your walls with this terrific wallpaper called Frames from artists Taylor and Wood. Make it your own with pictures, drawings, paintings and photographs. This would be so great in a child's room. It is available at Graham Brown .

Sea Worthy in San Francisco

What a wonderful shop-gallery-florist-all-around-delightful-shop in San Francisco! For those of us not in the Bay area Rose and Radish is thankfully online. Too much to choose from, my favorites are many:

From the Netherlands, these birdy bookends are under the KIDS section, but would be just at home any grown-up bookshelf.

SQUIRRLEY! Also from the Netherlands, these Squirrel plaques are bright eyed and bushy tailed! Well, in a ceramic kind of way . . .

Celebrate Los Muertos

This is my favorite time of year and Halloween is my favorite holiday. I missed posting something about the holiday because I was so busy preparing for it!
The veil between the worlds of the living and the dead is so thin this time of year and as the winds whip up and blow relentlessly, you can almost feel the proximity of the unseen. Mystery and magic are afoot. Today is All Saints Day and the first day of the Mexican holiday Los Dias De Los Muertos or The Days of the Dead.Today families remember the infants and children that have died and tomorrow, All Souls Day, friends and relatives that have died will be honored.

Traditions and customs vary with the region, but the basics are pretty much the same. Families get together at burial sites, prepare altars , prepare special food and give offerings to commemorate the spirits of the dead.

Regardless, it is a joyful celebration of the dead that ought to remind us to continue to live.

Olvera Street celebrates

Write Now

I couldn't be happier that the hand-engraved paper luxuries from Mrs. John L. Strong are finally available on a newly launched website. These tranquil Buddha notes were given to me by a dear friend and I think they are the epitomy of craft, luxury, simplicity and spirit. There are also wonderful gift ideas such as a fresh crop of cedar pencils, exquisite calendars and boxes for every room of the house.

The Big Easy

"Essential paper for artful living" is the motto of SCRIPTURA on fashionable Magazine Street in New Orleans. Postmark New Orleans is the latest in the Celebrate New Orleans line of cards that the shop has developed to honor the city that Katrina threatened to take away.

Fall Feet First

These hand-embroidered slippers from Bonnie Heart Clyde will keep you stylishy grounded or (ahem) ready to branch out. They're available at DOE in San Francisco.

Charmed I'm Sure

You've no doubt seen jewelry designer Maya Brenner's stately state necklaces but for all sorts of luck and a reminder to be zen in the face of twisted traffic, conniving co-workers, irritating in-laws or whatever else might threaten to unruffle your feathers, I love the Watch Over You necklace .

Out of Africa

"As this Swahili proverb says, all things are possible if you just take it little by little, step by step. And, little by little, we can make a difference, one person at a time." begins the introduction from Beth Peterson on her website, Haba na haba, hujaza kibaba, which translates into "Little by little, fills the pot."

The site spotlights a collective of artisans from Tanzania and portion of the profits support job training and educational opportunities for at-risk youth in Tanzania.

Sipping Spirits

Melkon and Litty developed Modern Spirits Vodka because Litty didn't like the medicinal taste of vodka. The sophisticated infusions of flavors such as celery peppercorn, tea, chocolate orange, candied ginger, black truffle and grapefruit honey elevate this enlightened spirit to sipping status.

Sea Light

Soothing sea lights glow warmly from Amy Cooper’s studio in England, where she masterfully crafts these otherwordly lights that are inspired by, “coastal life, as well as 'hidden nature'- microscopic biology such as pollen, spores and seeds.”

"Pollen"

"Sea Urchin"

The Knights of Knit

These Autumn Winter hat designs from Angelika Klose Design make me smile. Felt helmets, perfect for delivering comments like,
”Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!”

Read Between the Lines

Origin, The London Craft Fair is currently going on in, well, London. Though I am not there, I have picked a few favorites from their exhibitors. I will roll these out over the next few days.

SU BLACKWELL is a wonderful artist in England. These book-works are beautiful and evocative, playful and just lovely! Normally I wouldn’t advocate cutting up a book, but these are something else:
From her artist’s statement:
“I use non-art materials such as books and clothes to create work which evokes a sense of dreamy melancholy or magical enchantment. I'm interested in the realm of fairy-tales and folk-legends and have been working on a series of book-works exploring these themes, externalising the pages of the book and allowing it to be read in another way.”

From "The Ice Maiden" 2006


From "The Snow Queen" 2006

Monday Rune: Fehu

Runes are a wonderful way to get a quick bit of wisdom, advice or opinion. The ancient Viking oracle functions the way the tarot does. Your "question" is answered intuitively and the interpretation of the meaning and how it applies is up to you or whomever is reading for you. The primitive symbols and soft rounded stones are more earthy than the tarot. I often just pick one rune instead of doing a full spread. That is called Odin's rune. I use Ralph Blum's wise book and runes. Highlights of today's rune:
"FEHU is a rune of fulfillment: ambition satisfied, love fulfilled, rewards received. It promises nourishment, from the most worldly to the sacred and Divine. "As above so below."

Meaning from Tara Hill

On Tortoise Time

Wandering down Abbott Kinney today, I stopped into TORTOISE. Started by Taku and Keiko Shinomoto, who moved from Tokyo to L.A. in 2003, the shop is filled with simply stunning objects of precision. Just being in the shop makes you slow down and appreciate the thought, detail and process involved, even indirectly, with each object--its creation, its purpose, function or meaning.
In their own words:
“The longevity of human life is getting longer year after year, led by the advanced nations. But on the other hand, the life of man-made products is getting shorter as if it's in the inverse proportion.
What do we do with this irony?
Wisemen have been questioning themselves, trying to figure out the answer.
We also have been wondering how we can take part in this.”

The shop is infused with elegant shapes, materials tamed, purposeful products made by hand and with extraordinary attention to the past and the present. Here are two of my favorites:

UBUGI


“Ubugi is the first kimono which the mothers used to make for newborn babies back in the old days. What is so clever about this ubugi is that it can be worn up to 24 months! When the baby is newborn, this ubugi is used to wrap the whole baby. When the baby grows, take the stitches out at the shoulder part so it extends and becomes a kimono shirt. To appreciate one item for a long time is easily forgotten these days but with a product like this, you can enjoy the baby's growth as the fabric turns into a softer cloth.”

FUROSHIKI from 9BRAND





FUROSHIKI is a cloth used to wrap things. The inspiration for stylish, thoughtful and unexpected laptop case comes from the Japanese tradition.

9BRAND has a wonderful philosophy:
“Pronounced 'KYU-JIRUSHI' in Japanese, '9brand' benefits from the number 9 which has special luck according to the wisdom of the East. 9brand is a design team by Keita & Naoyo Seto.

The all of our products has the conceptual background. The concept for our product line is "Evolution and Roots". "Where do we come from?" "Where do we go to?" These are universal and eternal questions. We think of that the path to the answer can be explored through creativity.

In our daily life, we learn from the creation and its process while creating. What we create and study range from the graphic arts to fabric products, and our studio is in KICHIJOJI, TOKYO.”