The dreamiest kids' bookcase

As it turns out, interior designer Kelly Wearstler and I do have something in common.

Yes, I know she's a designer best known for extravagant designs of hotels and resorts worldwide and judge on Bravo Network's "Top Design" show. But this famous mom of two boys and I share a similar concern: how best to store our kids' burgeoning book collections.

Her solution was featured in the November 2009 issue of Cookie magazine:



She writes that her kids books, about 500 in all, "used to be all piled up on one another." Hey, I guess the famous and not-so-famous don't live so differently after all since you are likely to see piles and piles of books everywhere around my house, most of them kids' books that I leave lying around everywhere to entice my kids to read whenever they feel like it. We actually do own about the same amount of kids' books as the Wearstler family since I'm such a book-lover, but most of the books are thrifted and many of them are vintage.

I fell in love with the kids' library in Wearstler's home for its modern simplicity. As Wearstler herself notes, the mini-library is a concept that can be replicated in smaller fashion. Think about it. Just a couple of long ledges with a lip to hold the books in could hold a week's (or month's) worth of reads for the kiddo(s).

Hmmm.....my hubby may be glad this is the last issue of Cookie magazine (I'm certainly not, but that's fodder for another post!) when he hears I've got yet another idea for revamping another corner of our home!

My secret reading nook

Cooler weather always sends me scurrying to my books and magazines with a mug of tea or hot chocolate. Living with two little ones, this doesn't happen often so I must steal little moments to read here and there. At the kitchen table while my son is in the bathroom. On the couch in the family room while both kids are occupied watching the weekly trash pickup in front of our home. In the car while waiting to pick up my son from school. You get the gist.

Then, there are the times I retreat to my "secret" reading nook:



Ah, those wonderful moments of luxury when I get to stretch out my legs on the ottoman with a magazine splayed out in front of me or a book propped open on my knees.

Don't get me wrong. It's not like no one knows my reading nook exists. After all, it's right next to my bed, where I rarely read these days for fear of falling asleep.

But my secret reading nook is the place where I secretly stow away for 10 or 15 minutes, or more, if I can wing it, by myself, while my husband watches the kids. Sometimes, I just need to decompress for a few minutes. Or sometimes I'm in need of a little inspiration.



My lovingly chipped two-level table is great for organizing my current books and magazines. I bought it for $20 through Craigslist from a woman who was emptying out her West Hollywood apartment for a new life in Hawaii. She was taking a chance at love, she told me, moving in with a boyfriend. Maybe it's because I'm used to asking many questions as a journalist, but one of my favorite parts about Craigslisting is hearing people's stories. Upon hearing this woman's story, I hugged her and wished her well.

Anyway, this woman very sweetly provided me with an almost full can of paint she had left over so I could retouch the table. But I took the paint home and realized I loved the table as is, the chips reminding me that this table once belonged to a dreamer and it is precisely what I aspire to be on my best days.

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Here is a view of the table from above. Now, you can really see those paint chips and what I use when I occasionally try to entice my kids into joining me for some quiet time.



It makes me happy to see these paintings when I wake up each morning and provide the perfect backdrop for my reading nook. I bought each one at a different antique shop, fairly inexpensively.



Here's my view from my reading corner, though, honestly, I'm not usually paying much atttention to anything else but a book or magazine when I finally have a few minutes to settle into this cozy nook.

Lusting after vintage goodies on Ebay

In case you hadn't noticed, I love to shop. Everything from finding bargains at thrift shops and 99 cent stores to discount racks at upscale boutiques. You don't want to know what happened when I first discovered Ebay. I went a little crazy.

But, as we all know too well, the days of irrational exuberance are long gone, even for this shopaholic. So now I window-shop and admire. Here's the current crop of eye candy for me on Ebay (prices as of this posting, click on title below photo to access Ebay listing):

Vintage oil painting $35

I feel like you can never have too much artwork. I've been enamored of flower paintings lately, perhaps because I'm such a fan of the blog Absolutely Beautiful Things, where decorator and blogger Anna Spiro uses flower paintings to help create such lovely and inviting rooms.

Abstract painting $12.34

When I was putting together my home office, I spent hours looking for paintings featuring women. I wanted to be inspired by beautiful images of women around the world as I work. I like this image because it reminds me of my almost everyday indulgence of taking a break from the kid chaos and sitting at my kitchen table while enjoying a magazine.

1962 Portrait $51

What loveliness! I adore this painting. I've been staring at it for a while now, wondering what this beautifully dressed woman is thinking. Is it sadness, quiet hope, despondency I see in her eyes? Maybe none of these. I enjoy paintings that allow me to imagine the story behind them.

Vintage Uzbek Hand-Embroidered Suzani $44

I don't care if the Suzani craze is over because I'm still craving a Suzani to hang above my bed. I like this Suzani for its wildly colorful design, which suits me perfectly. Of course, my husband might have different ideas about what should hang over our bed.

1960s Mexican straw tote $17.50

You may have noticed a pattern in my Ebay finds. They're all vintage. I just can't seem to get away from things that seem imbued with so much character. And I'm such a fan of vintage items to help organize one's home. This straw tote would be divine to hold towels in the bathroom or my current crop of reading books in the living room.

Antique card file box $10.50

Yum! This box is such a delicious dark chocolate brown. Among my many obsessions are cabinets with many drawers. The more drawers the better. Someday I will show you my collection of these type of cabinets but I've yet to add a card file box like this one, which I think would be great for holding so many things in the kitchen, office or bedroom.

Vintage red, black and silver wallpaper $15.92

I've been gathering my courage to put up a wall of wallpaper somewhere in my home. Since red figures prominently in several rooms, this one seems like a nice, bold choice for a great accent wall. Or, I could also use a smaller dose of it and create my own "wall sticker." I'm thinking a wall sticker of a tree or a giraffe, but I'm artistically challenged on the drawing front. Ideas?

Vintage Contac paper (yellow bamboo) $7.99

This is another more subtle (and less expensive) choice for a wall-sticker but the width is smaller. Also, the spot I'm thinking of adding this wall sticker is rather bland at the moment and in dire need of color so I'm not sure a subtle yellow would do much for that area.

So there you have it, my list of current Ebay obsessions. I'm finding it difficult to hold off on buying things when there seem to be so many good deals out there, but I'm also proud of myself for being disciplined on the fiscal front. What about you, are you shopping more or less on Ebay these days?

Mercedes Sosa, a voice that will never go silent

I could not let another day go by without adding to the resounding chorus of those grieving for Argentinean singer Mercedes Sosa. The folk singer died Sunday after decades of giving voice to people throughout Latin America.



The Grammy-winning singer was famous for songs that called for social justice, which earned her government censorship and led to her exile to Europe for a time to avoid threats by government death squads. She was hugely popular in Latin America but was well-known throughout the world. Audiences flocked to see Sosa, who sold out venues as varied as Carnegie Hall and the Coliseum in Rome.

Now, it is our turn to sing. To sing her songs. To sing our own. To sing anything that keeps her dream alive of a more unified world. If anything, to properly mourn her passing. A missive from the singer's family on her official web site makes it imperative: "What made Mercedes happiest was singing. ... That's how we would like to remember her and we invite you accompany us."

In the video above, she sings in Spanish the song written by another exiled artist, Chilean Julio Numhauser:

" ... Change, everything changes
But my love does not change,
No matter how very far away I find myself,
Nor the remembrance or the pain
of my village and of my people
That which changed yesterday
will change tomorrow
Just the same as I change
in this far away land,"

Translation: courtesy singer/songwriter Sara Thomsen

An evening of Latin American art and inspiration

From the outside, the Museum of Latin American Art has everything one would consider contemporary. Clean, angular lines. Stark yet expressive landscaping. Irregular shapes.


No one would know that the vast expanse of halls that now house the museum once served as a film studio and, later, a skating rink. What greets visitors inside feels like a warm embrace on a cold day, an entirely welcome respite from the busy street fronting the museum.


An orange wall filled with various crosses is the first thing I noticed upon entering the museum. The crosses were not an art installation but rather a display inside the museum store. The earthy orange contrasted nicely with the colorful crosses, made by artisans from throughout Latin America.

I was at the museum for an evening spent with journalists and others who gathered at the museum last weekend for a writers' event hosted by CCNMA: Latino Journalists of California. The organization is one that is near to my heart since a high school journalism workshop sponsored by the group was what first stirred my interest in journalism.


Of course, I immediately headed to the book section to thumb through the offerings there. Specifically, I was looking for books on photographer Lola Alvarez Bravo, one of Mexico's first professional female photographers who rose to prominence around the same time as painter Frida Kahlo. The store did not disappoint and I was able to thumb through a book containing many of her groundbreaking black-and-white photos that documented life throughout the various parts of Mexico.


Items at the store included those handcrafted by inmates in Mexican prisons, where they typically have to pay for their own necessities.

I've long enjoyed the three-dimensional boxed artwork popular in Mexico.

As in many indigenous communities, masks in Latin America are an integral part of many ceremonial dances but they also have become a part of the artistic and cultural landscape, These ceramic masks mimic those commonly seen on "luchadores" (pro wrestlers).


"Day of the Dead" artwork, which I've written about before here, is popular among collectors of Latin American arts and crafts.


By far, however, I would have to say that this contemporary image is what made my evening a memorable one.