All posts by Alix

Friday Link Hootenanny :: Fun Things to Browse

Link Hootenanny

Ah the Friday Link Hootenanny is turning more and more into the “Weekend Link Hootenanny” but I think that’s A-OK, and I hope you do too. We had a little bit of rain and cold but now we’re back to glorious sun shine! What do you have going on this weekend? In the meantime, here are some fun links that caught my eye….

1. PRADA GIFS GOOD ANIMATION


GIFs are all hot again. Even fashion powerhouse Prada is jumping on the bandwagon and have released a series of little playful GIFs that will debut on different fashion blogs. I found these over at style bubble. Check out more here.

2. MIDCENTURY WOW!

Pam over at Retro Renovation always has the most amazing finds for vintage lovers. This home tour of a 1954 midcentury masterpiece is one of the most spectacular I’ve ever seen! See the complete tour here.

3. INSTA GLAM

Wow. These high fashion photos were all taken by photographer Nick Knight via Instagram. Again WOW. See more here. (spied via whorange)

4. INSTA PILLOWS.

A pillow made up of instagram photos? How fun! I can see this being great for a kid’s room. Get yours here.

5. INSTA OBSESSION

Yes. I’m obsessed. I find instagram SO fun (both to browse and to shoot with). I loved this post on how to shoot like your favorite film director. Find out more over here. (To get the dreamy, vintage look of Anderson’s upcoming Moonrise Kingdom, add the Earlybird filter!)

6. MINI BUT MIGHTY.

Our sweet pal Erin of Design for Mankind just launched a brand new site called Design for Mini Kind. It’s already got loads of fun goodies, we can’t wait to see what else she comes up with! Congratulations Erin!

7. ROOTY TOOTY FRESH & FRUITY

Balloons shaped like fruits? Yes. Totally adorable (and do-able!). See more over here.

8. THIS SKIRT IS CURTAINS

This curtain was a skirt three minutes ago. Nice one, Aunt Peaches. See more here.

9. OLIVE DESIGN MOM

Design Mom is one of my favorite reads. Gabrielle Blair seems to navigate what could be a chaotic life (6 kiddos!) with such grace and aplomb. In addition to writing about cool design, she and her family moved from the States to a charming farmhouse in the French countryside and it’s been fascinating to follow along. It was meant to be a year long adventure, but now they are extending their stay for another year (or so) and I couldn’t be more excited. I have loved following her exploits. Do you read Design Mom? If not, I def recommend it. Check out the side bar for links to their French Adventure and a tour of the home they live in, La Cressonnière!

10. BONUS VIDEO// OLIVE US

Gabrielle is launching a new video series….here is the trailer. It looks like it will give us a further sneak peek into French living.

Unearthed // Vintage Excavations From My Basement

Real Life : Alix

It all started here. One of my favorite things in the world. Thrift shopping. I was lucky that when I met Greg, I found a kindred spirit. He loves collecting and vintage as much as I do. In fact, our second date was actually an afternoon of thrifting (and then dinner and a movie). We’ve been together 10 years now. So that’s 10 years of joint thrifting. Not to mention all the stuff I had collected the years before I met him. In other words…..we got STUFF. Most of this was in our old Mission flat. Which had that kitschy cool charm of a San Francisco apartment. But when we bought a house we wanted it to look a little more “grown up cool”. Still funky, but less cluttered. We boxed up a lot of stuff. And tucked it away in the basement. So now our basement is filled with vintage clothing and bric-a-brac and miscellaneous stuff. Our garage and side storage room are also overflowing with STUFF……stuff like…well. THIS:

The problem is, while we have a mini hoarder sitch going on over here, it’s all cool stuff. Things that just make me happy to look at, but had forgotten about. Like this guy:

And our collection of vintage 70s 8-tracks and radios. They’re all so colorful and cool. “And they only play tunes from 1974!” Heh. I wish.

There were bins full of vintage magazines I didn’t even realize I had….

Magazines, dolls, dishes, lamps, books. BOOKS! So many books. I mean, who could resist the NEW COMPLETE POODLE??

Oh and vintage dance costumes?? Yeah. We have those too.

It’s starting to look a LITTLE cleaner. At least you can see the counter on the side storage room now.

If I’m being honest, there is also a lot of crap down there too. Papers. Books. Old suitcases (not pretty vintage ones). Camping gear. Random tools. Clipboards (we found EIGHT clipboards. WHY??) .TONS of empty boxes for toys that I saved “just in case we want to re-sell them”. I went through every single box that was stored on the shelves and we filled THREE recycling bins worth of paper. It’s still unclear why I saved an entire year of JANE magazine….or all those Vanity Fair magazines…or Martha Stewarts. Or that Rolling Stone issue with the Spice Girls on the cover (huh?) and every Rolling Stone with Nirvana on the cover. Or THIS:

HELLLLLLP!

My mom and dad came out here this week and have been helping sort and clean and take trips to the thrift store to donate and “put it back in the system” as I like to say. Ultimately there is a lot of pretty awesome stuff down there. Some of it I’ll keep. Much of it I need to sell. My mom always says, “You don’t need to ever go shopping again, just go thrifting in your basement!” She’s kind of right.  Most of it is just fun to share….so look for some followup posts on the craziness in my basement! (or follow me on instagram: @galexina….i tend to post lots of it there!)

I still have a TON of work to do. And to the untrained eye, the place still looks like a wreck…..but the piles are all organized. And i’m SO happy I went through all those mystery boxes and got rid of a ton of random things. Then again, so many things are soooo hard to get rid of!!

As I took my mom to the airport I couldn’t resist a quickie drive by at the thrift on the way home. I was going to take a joking photo of my out front and send it to her and Greg (because I am sort of forbidden from shopping there for a while). Of course as I walked in I spied an amazing vintage children’s book I have been on the hunt for for EVER (A Child’s Garden of Verses, illustrated by the Provesens) AND……a Pucci Scarf. $1.99. Sigh. And so it continues.

Do you have a collection problem??? Please share. It’s nice to know I’m not alone in this….

KATE SPADE, the envelope please….

Giveaways

Liz of yellow finch designs who left this comment:

CONGRATULATIONS Liz!!!!! You are officially the proud owner of this rockin’ bag that I have been eyeing for the past week and a half as it sits in its luxurious Kate Spade box in the corner of my office!!! (I can’t lie, I’m totally jealous….)  I think you MUST take a picture of yourself with the bag when it arrives so we can all see! Whoo hoo!

I think someone is having a VERY happy Monday.

Thank you so much to everyone who entered. This was the biggest, baddest most rockin-est giveaway we have ever done and we’re SOO thrilled you all loved it as much as we did! Winner selected via Random.org. And yeah. We just might do it again some day.

Happy Sunday!

Month of Color

Mmm color. I love these muted tones….sometimes subtle color can be even more powerful and emotional than big ol bright pops of color, ya know?

The weather out here is GORGEOUS. Like, in the 70s, sunny, I can’t bear to stay inside gorgeous. My parents are in town visiting, so I’m pushing the Kate Spade bag winner announcement to tomorrow (eep!!) and I didn’t post the Friday Link Hootenanny yesterday because honestly, sometimes ya just gotta close that computer and get outside and enjoy life!

I wanted to say thank you to everyone who commented so fabulously and gave us such wonderful feedback throughout our Month of Color. I have to say, it’s been SO much fun! We just may have to make this an annual tradition, whaddya say?? We still have one more day left this month, so expect a few more colorful posts. But who are we kidding? I think this whole experience has just  made me determined to make every day as colorful as can be!

Hope you’re having an awesome Sunday my friends!