Pack Rack

Simply said, I want! The Pack Rack, a jewelry or light clothing rack made from sustainable woods and plastic animals from The Future Perfect.

Let There be Light

This winter has brought so much rain and stormy weather, I literally have had to keep my lights on all day. In turn this starts tempting me to change out some lighting around the house and hang some new lampshades, just to mix things up. My friend Krysta sent me a link to these Skull lampshades from textile designer Amy Aardvark that just make me smile. Printed on organic fair-trade cotton, these shades might just bring some much-needed sunshine into any home. Available from the wonderful Hidden Art Shop.

Merrie Merrie

The last of my cookies are baked, gifts wrapped and my waistline is already suffering from all the indulgent snacking. Kept my decorations pretty simple this year, lime green felt tree from CB2 last year and my favorite little birch reindeer standing in some grass ornament from Small Stump. Wishing all a very very Merrie Christmas and Happy Holidays.

Secret Desert Lodging

If you have ever wanted to re-live a vintage postcard from the 40-50s then the Hicksville Trailer Palace and Artist Retreat in Joshua Tree, CA is the place for you! Secreted away somewhere in the surrounding area of Joshua Tree in the California desert, this sweet set-up has so much appeal. Each individual accommodation is in a vintage themed trailer all set up around a common swimming pool and outdoor activities area. It is doggie friendly and run on solar power. There is no way to know where it is exactly until you book a trailer and get instructions from the hosts. Truly an under-the-radar kind of place and I love it!

Raising Monies

The Eat My Blog winter 2010 charity bake sale raised over $3,750 this weekend for the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank! My lavender honey shortbread cookies sold out as did most everything else at the sale. Great fun, great sweets and a great cause!

Sweets for a Cause

This coming Saturday, December 4th the Eat My Blog charity bake sale returns with a menu of sweets that literally makes me swoon! There will be over 2,000 baked goods from 50+ bloggers and bakers all in one location for all your sugar needs. View the menu and drool over such delights as Smoked Salt Toffee, Crack Pies, Curry Macarons, Bacon Caramel Popcorn and my Lavender Honey Shortbread. Founder and organizer Cathy Chaplin of the blog Gastronomy has been such an inspiration and the event has rapidly grown into quite the food event here in Southern California. The first two bake sales raised over $8,000 for the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank and this sale promises to be a huge success.

I feel honored to be a part of this event and I believe I am the only non-food blogger in the mix, although I do blog about food from time to time. I certainly tweet about it constantly with my food-loving friends on Twitter. So come on over to West Hollywood this Saturday and indulge yourself with this spread of sugar temptations!

Photo: Lavender Honey Shortbread by the very talented Ryan Tanaka

Lucky Love Chair

Simple, clean and very reminiscent of Scandinavian and Japanese design, the Lucky Love Chair by Dutch designer Maarten Baptist is rather breathtaking. So very inviting, it makes you want to sit in it. A series of them will be launching in early 2011. Via Contemporist

Sweet Tooth

It's no secret that I have a wicked sweet tooth and the holidays are full of temptations everywhere I go. When I saw these mini iced donut ornaments from Urban Outfitters, I almost got a little sugar rush! Decorating a little tiny tree just with mini donuts or any of the other charming food-related ornaments Urban Outfitters carry could be a fun alternative to traditional tree trimmings. For years I have always tried to come up with an artistic or modern tree solution, one year I had a giant tumbleweed decorated with mini lights as my tree. It didn’t last long between the cat and dog:)

The Lucky Winner Is…

The lovely Abi has won the $45 CSN stores gift certificate! Enjoy shopping and thanks for stopping by Design Nomad to join in on the fun:)

Sunday Snaps

It's a clear, crisp and beautiful fall Sunday here in Southern California and a perfect day to explore the quiet streets deep in downtown’s industrial area. Astounding painted walls and a toy factory were my eye candy for the afternoon. Enjoy this lovely weekend!

CSN Gift Certificate Giveaway

I’m very happy to be hosting my second giveaway with CSN stores and bestowing a $45 gift certificate to a lucky reader. CSN is a super-sized online mall where you can find everything from upholstered headboards, iconic furniture from manufacturers such as Knoll, Blu Dot and Dwell Studio, modern baby products to fabulous cookware.

CSN is my go-to spot when indulging in adding to my Bodum collection and shipping is free on a lot of their items. I truly am in love with everything Bodum produces. What caught my eye on this most recent window shopping visit was their acid green Bistro juicer, the double walled tumblers, an orange Bistro burr coffee grinder and an acid green Bistro hand mixer.

Here's how to enter:

1. You must follow Design Nomad either through Google friend connect or Twitter @Designomad. Please leave a comment letting me know how you follow.

2. Follow me on both networks for an additional entry. Leave a comment for each network that you follow.

3. Tweet about giveaway with a link to my blog and leave me a comment letting me know and the link for another additional entry.

Contest is open only to US and Canadian residents and will close next Friday, November 12 at 6:00 pm, PST. The winner will be chosen via Random.org and announced on Saturday, November 13. Good luck!

Circle of Skulls

By now most everyone has their Halloween decorations up and costumes all planned for a big weekend of parties. Here in West Hollywood, the city shuts down Santa Monica Blvd and hosts a huge Halloween Carnaval and parade. For me, I'd be simply happy with this fabulous Alexander McQueen Skull bracelet and maybe a Dexter-inspired bloody wall covering. Wishing you all a safe but scary Halloween!

Steamy & Modern

Every winter when it gets cold and dry I make an effort to find a humidifier that is pleasant to look at as well as functional in offering some comfort but have never been able to find one that doesn't look like a prop from a hospital room. The Middle Colors Humidifier from designer Takashi Hiroshi Tsuboi is a beautiful tear-drop shaped vessel that will produce moisture and ultra-sonic steam for up to ten consecutive hours and do it in such style, I would keep this out all year long! Available in small and large sizes from the good folks over at Gizmine in a palette of colors that are delicious to the eye as well as kind to the pocketbook.

Wicked Good

If you haven't seen this October’s issue of W Magazine then you are missing out on this out-of-the-world fashion essay by esteemed photographer Tim Walker. The opening shot is jaw-dropping, as is all of his work. Now I want to wrap my house in hay & organza :)

(From W Magazine, October 2010, Photograph: Tim Walker)

The ABCs of Lead

I love tiny intricate things, probably because I've been wearing glasses for extreme near-sightedness (and later contacts) since I was six years old. When I first saw the art of Dalton Ghetti, it was a case of instant fascination. Dalton is an inspired and gifted artist from Connecticut who carves tiny works of art into pencil lead and his series of the alphabet is something to behold. Be sure to click on the link and see more of his visually stunning work. (Via Design Sponge)

Pulp Love

I don't ever use paper plates being so eco-conscious except for during the holidays when I am baking and packaging goodies from kitchen for gifts. Every year I struggle to find decently designed simple pieces that I can work with in creating a great looking finished gift package. Then I found this line of earth-friendly and beautifully designed line of paper dinnerware that looks as if it's made out of the finest porcelain and designed by Japanese artisans. Compote is part of the complete WASARA line, which elevates disposable tableware to a whole new level. Offering the best in Japanese design, WASARA products fit comfortably in the hand, with an elegant texture and sturdy quality that are unparalleled in the category.

Sheer beauty is only half the story, though: WASARA is also an earth-conscious product. Made from tree-free renewable materials (sugar cane fiber, bamboo and reed pulp) and fully biodegradable and compostable, WASARA is as good to the earth as it is to your culinary creations. The bowls could also work as containers for things other than food, thus lasting far beyond their original intent.

420 Characters/Miniature Stories of Lou Beach

Ever since I laid eyes on acclaimed illustrator and artist Lou Beach's virtual book 420 Characters, I've been taxed with trying to put into words how much I love this book. I first met Lou back in the late 70s when I was an Assistant Art Director at New West magazine. Lou's illustrations are original, very smart and reek of a wicked sense of dark humor. I decided to turn to my dear friend Michael Kellner, a brilliant book designer and artist, to write a guest review of 420 Characters for Design Nomad. Michael is the most well-read and literate person I know, so I thought it was a perfect time to defer to a master of words for his take on the book. Thank you Michael for this thoughtful post!

Lou Beach's online story collection, 420 Characters, is so elegantly conceived and realized as to delight or assuage anyone afflicted with terminal bibliomania. From front cover to back, this simulacrum of a late-19th century octavo--red boards, a small gold-leaf embossed design, the epitome of that condition booksellers generously quote as 'shows some shelf-wear'—collects the famed collage artist's impressive march on the written word. Each story, as we're informed in an Author's Note, is composed of 420 characters, including word spaces and punctuation, and first posted on a social networking site.

As one navigates through the book, the Title Page makes clever use of an early incarnation of publisher Little, Brown's colophon (L.B. now equals Lou Beach) while the stories that follow deliver the narrative goods with commensurate aplomb. Concise, varied, and evocative, Beach's stories are finely crafted miniatures worthy of an expanding readership. The site includes 16 embedded audio excerpts read by actors Jeff Bridges, Ian McShane, and Dave Alvin.

The whole farking thing is brilliant if you ask me, but you don't have to. Authors and artists from Jonathan Lethem to Gary Panter and Terry Gilliam have eagerly enlisted to say as much on the End Credits page. To be coveted, not missed. — Michael Kellner

Pencil Me In

Sharpening a pencil always puts me in a nostalgic mood. The scent of the wood dust takes me back to the days sitting at my Dad's drafting table while he drew up plans for his landscape architecture business clients. As it turns out, that wood dust smell now just reminds me of the 4 billion trees cut down worldwide for paper industries and massive deforestation. Not a good thing. A much more earth-friendly alternative are these beautiful pencils from TreeSmart made out of recycled newspapers. Go green whenever you can!

A Canopy of Cool

These ultra cool Coco pendant lights by Coco Flip Design look as if my Danish mid-century furniture had a party during the night and hatched these fixtures! Coco Flip is a design studio established by Kate Stokes based in Melbourne, Australia and is one to keep on your radar for fresh, clean and very modern furniture solutions. Love!

Vintage Nomad

After procrastinating for what seemed like forever, I have almost finally completed setting up a little on-line vintage shop, Vintage Nomad. Over the years I've collected/acquired a notable amount of mid-century homewares, California pottery, vintage books and some very interesting paper ephemera that will be stocked in my shop. So until then, stay tuned for the link … :)

Tuesday Art Break/Suburban Bliss

If you are in the market for affordable art, Leah Giberson's serene paintings of suburban scenes and mid-century architecture are definitely worth considering. I fell in love with her work instantly finding a comforting familiarity in the paintings as if I had been there before. She begins her pieces with photographs, painting directly on them with a clarity that is visually stunning. You can find her paintings through Sebastian Foster Gallery, Rare Device, and she also sells prints on her Etsy shop.

Honor Thy Father

I so do wish my father and mother were still alive to see our house he designed and lovingly built for us in the late 50s showcased in this month's (August issue) of In-Style magazine. I have spoken at length with Robin Tunney and it makes me so happy that she treasures this house and is carefully and slowly restoring it to it's original vision. Finally someone who is removing all the prior owners renovating mistakes like blond floors and marble in the kitchen. My father is turning over in his grave at the mere mention of such things:) We had slate floors and there was nothing blond about this house. I am ever so grateful to have grown up in this beautiful home and under the shadow of my talented Dad and loving Mother. (click on photos to see at a larger size)

Surf Style

We are well into summer now and I have been living in shorts for the most part, while working at home far away from in-person client meetings. Comfortable shorts that fit well, are edgy and modern are usually hard to find, and then I stumbled upon Shortomatic, 100% custom board shorts. A brilliant concept where you can design your own print design they print for you or choose from a vast gallery of great designs and order them up based on a custom fit chart. I prefer the longer boys style board short but they also now are offering a short board short for women as well. Here's your chance to express yourself with custom designs and a fantastic fit. Brought to you by the folks who created Yogamatic, custom printed yoga mats, another inspired idea!

Vintage Love

My love of typography has found a new outlet of obsession with these vintage chairs recovered in fabric reproductions from taken from vintage British transfer route bus signs. Designer DeWayne Lumpkin is the creative force behind British Route Sign Designs based in Grant’s Pass, Oregon. He offers fabric yardage, some very desirable vintage seating upholstered with the fabrics, pillows and the vintage signs themselves. If only I had room for one of these chairs!