Adventures

I'm just going to admit it, it feels quite sad to have left Maine. It was such a short trip but so fun to see family and show my Hawaii friends Maine life. We enjoyed so much lobster, blueberry pie, fresh food, laughs, late night wine toasts, ocean adventures, animal adventures (finding beavers and getting hit by a kamakazi deer on route 1), yummy picnics, yummy dinners, good stories...even yoga all together. I wish i could just do all that forever! I am so grateful for all my friends and family and such special places to call home. Feel lucky to have experienced two amazing trips this year!

Back to 50 cent Ramen dinners...

JAC

I'm happy to say i paired myself up with a team of wonderful designers, Christine Thompson and Andrea Putnam of JAC Interiors (just temporary right now, as the "J" in the group is transitioning...)
When i got back from Switzerland i was checking Craigslist the classifieds and all the employment agencies almost every hour, and applying/sending resumes like crazy. Every time i saw something related to retail or management or sales or merchandising or buying or interior design or anything like any of those things, i emailed and/or called right away. I never heard anything from anyone..EVER!
It was all looking a little grim for a while. I can't really even explain how it feels to be completely ignored when you're trying so hard over and over and over...
But anyway, for some reason, almost two weeks ago now, i decided to just Google "Santa Monica interior designers." I had done this before but for some reason i decided to try again and this time i found JAC Interiors. I just loved the look of their work and style. They emailed me back right away and we met within a few days.
Skipping along, I've been with them EVERY DAY! Driving all over the city with them working on a project they have to finish by the end of the month with a tiny budget. Even just went to Andrea's birthday pool party Christine hosted with some friends at her house! They're great and really respect me and my opinions and what i have to offer and i completely admire them as designers and as crazy people :-)
This is just a little taste of what we were working on today. Still not done but it was completely empty when we started. We shopped for everything just in a few days. I drew up all the floor plans for them and then we had to shop at places like Crate&Barrel, CB2, Ikea, and local shops because the budget was so tight. But being in LA, it's easier to work on small budgets because there are so many places to go! This is our take on "Asian-Modern on a budget"...It will look so great when it's all done.

This was us all working today at Christine's house...

Jam

I don't think i've ever dropped a jar of jam before. I didn't totally drop this one myself, but it was my fault.

Tonight when i got home after work i had a package waiting for me from Hilary (:-))!!) It was a beautiful jar of her homemade raspberry jam!

I was so excited...i set it on the counter to try after dinner.

An hour or so later, i opened the fridge and out of NOWHERE, off flew a random jar of my room mates blueberry jam and broke onto the floor! 

I just thought it was such a bizarre set of circumstances, as i haven't had anything to do with any kind of jam for maybe...years. And then tonight i get a jar of jam AND break a jar of jam...

 

And beautiful Hil's...This is so lame i'm writing about jam but i just get a kick of these things that happen...in twos :-)

 

Berries

Lot's of fresh fruit here, it's all so good. I've been broiling my frozen waffles since we don't have a toaster, weird?!

Beach Bike Ride

What a beautiful day for a beach bike ride! Stopped along the way for this cute snapshot - cutest cluster of umbrellas on the entire beach! There's a fun bike/skate/rollerblade/walk path that goes for miles along the coastline between Marina del Rey and Malibu.

Grateful

Being alone has opened my eyes and heart to a lot of new things. Yoga has too. It came at the right time into my life i suppose. Yoga, my family, friends, mentors and experiences have all made me so much more aware of how important is to be open and grateful. To be consciously grateful throughout the day on a daily basis takes effort. But that awareness opens so many new doors. It's so easy to fall into such a routine in life that you really forget to stop and think outside your box. It's sometimes easy to forget just how big and giving the world out there is....

On that note i biked to the Santa Monica farmers market yesterday. SO amazing! What a fun place to go as a family or just to people watch.

Venice

My hood...

Yummy Lunch

So i just whipped together some salmon burgers for the first time, oh my gosh i'm so excited! They turned out so yummy!
I felt so tired this morning, kept dozing on and off and then finally decided i needed to eat something. 
I mixed together canned salmon (the good kind from Trader Joe's) with eggs, basil, dill, salt, pepper, chopped shallots and a little lemon juice and then fried them up in a little veggie oil and holy moly they were so good! I warmed up some nan bread and poured a little olive oil on it and then stuck the burger in the bread. Perfect lunch! 
Looks gross i know but totally wasn't :-)

Elated

I'm just so excited i got to meet and hug Martyn Lawrence Bullard tonight! And he was soooo sweet. He even said "welcome to LA" after our conversation was over, like he actually remembered what i had said! He was just dashing, can't you imagine him saying that in his adorable accent?! I've loved him on Million Dollar Decorator for years and i've followed him on Instagram for a long time now. I feel like i went on his month long Mediterranean boat trip with him this past month. In fact, someone he was with liked some of my pics on Instagram i think just because he thought i was stalking him!!!

 

My neighbor friend Shirley invited me, she gets all these invitations to LA showroom parties. So fun!

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Ok, so here is the bread. Haven't tried it yet so don't know how it tastes...but looks ok yeah?

Tassels

I walked a couple miles today to Whole Foods to get some zucchini for chocolate zucchini bread. For some reason I just felt like that would be a good thing for breakfast and possible snacking. I'm still learning my way around the hundreds of tiny streets that either don't connect or dead end, but today was the second time i had been by this little gem. The first time there was a party going on under the tassels. Everyone smiled at me when i walked by, probably thinking i was joining the party. This time walking by it was quiet but just looked so cute..

 

 And my lunch matched...I picked up avacados and veggies at the farmers market Saturday. Got some smoked salmon on sale and made my own dill sauce with plain yogurt. Wish i could just pick at yummy foods like this all the time but it doesn't last long in me...

Rocker Isla

This is Rocker Isla. This is my playlist. Anyone over say...40 need not read any further!

Kids -MGMT

Back to Black - Great Gatsby

Old Statues - Other Lives

Blurred Lines - Robin Thicke

Instant Crush - Daft Punk

Safe and Sound - Capital Cities

We Used to Wait - Arcade Fire

Hearts A Mess - Great Gatsby

My Kind of Love - Emeli Sande

Enter Galactic - Kid Cudi

Get Lucky - Daft Punk

No Church in the Wild - Great Gatsby

Hurricane - MS MR 

Love Is the Drug - Great Gatsby

Kill Your Heroes - Awolnation

Swiss

Some days this feels like this would just be sooo...(I wrote this yesterday, today was actually a good day!)

It was honestly just so amazingly beautiful in Switzerland..

 It's hard to even explain...I need an adventurer!

Capped

Oh my gosh! If i hadn't had my ear infection, i wouldn't have had the perfect quarter inch scaled coffee table for my drawing! I didn't have anything to make the right size circle with except my ear drop cap, which turned out to be exactly 36" round in 1/4" scale! I tried all kinds of other caps...too big. Helping some designers with quick drawings...Perfecto!

House

Nice thing about having to walk everywhere is that you can find things. I saw this building from the street walking up toward where i was going and decided to take a weird u/v/l turn on a whim to try and find it. I did find it and it was well worth all the winding around. I was stalking this place for what felt like hours, just staring at how cute it all was. Please be mine someday :-)

Eggs

Had a fun little bike ride into downtown SM this morning, picture perfect  :-) Would love to do it every weekend! The person i was with i'm sure thought i was crazy, had to buy eggs (blue and green i might add) from the "happiest chickens"....!

4th

Last night i was invited to a rooftop party in Hollywood, by a girl i had never even met before. I had met a friend of hers through a good friend of mine (hi Tara!) back when i was in Hawaii a few months ago. She introduced the two of us via Facebook and this girl, Ripley Rader (check out her website, she's incredible! I want one of her jumpsuits :-)) ended up inviting me over to her amazing loft right next to the Hollywood Bowl.

Wednesday evening i had to find a clinic because my ear was just on complete fire, i thought my head was falling off. I went to the clinic in Santa Monica which was great. The doctor gave me a discount, i think because i told him i had been living in cars, hostels, hotels and random places for the past month or so (and we both loved The Great Gatsby!), so it only cost me $75 to fix my ear infection.
But because of that whole situation, i wasn't really feeling up for going out. In fact i could hardly get out of bed. I did manage earlier in the day to get out for a bit and walk down to the beach. It was SO festive - everyone was out walking, biking, skating, laughing and it was a gorgeous day weather wise.

But i decided to go so found my way over there to the Bowl and the minute i found their house i about died.  SO cool and filled with all flea market/goodwill finds. I meandered my way around and found the stairs to the rooftop where everyone was. The minute i walked in Ripley was like "are you Isla"! It was a fun evening, i think in the past i may have been really shy being around a bunch of LA people i didn't know. But i chatted with all kinds of people. One couple will be in CAMDEN MAINE when i'm there the end of July!!!! His parents have a place there and they happen to be going the same time i am. So hopefully we'll get to meet up, they're staying in Lincolnville. So crazy!

New Room

I slept in my new room last night. I literally have nothing in it except a little futon mattress, a light and my clothes. The white bookcase was already in the room so i decided to keep it. It feels so insanely great to have my own little space.

Rose

I found a cafe on Rose Ave, i think it's called Rose Cafe (ha!) but i couldn't find a name anywhere. It's such a neat place to eat. Inside they have little Etsy-like shops with local vendors, so you can eat and then shop. It's big, bright and bustling with interesting looking people. They had huge bowls filled with the most delicious looking cold salads - lentil, cucumber, beet, tomato....all so fresh with herbs and oils. For anyone who comes to visit me, all we'll be doing is eating :-)))

 

My days seem to be color themed. Later i saw this tshirt in the Santa Monica Goodwill. I went in looking to see if they had a cheap beach bike and on my way out, i saw this. It was fitting because everything has been so difficult and at times it's felt so easy to just want to completely give up. I can't help but just smile when i see these little signs everywhere...like little angels reminding me i can do it :-)