A brainful of Inspiration

For major inspiration + stimulation watch this TED conference video in its entirety.

be shiny.

I know most people can't wait until the summer arrives... although, I am more than happy to jump right to AUTUMN 2009. Not that we have seasons here in LA, but... I have to admit I love Fall.
Looks like the big guns are sending us a message. BE SHINY!!!. Rhinestone embellished tights, leather flight caps + rocks for your wrist (and neck)...

Consider yourself informed.

Jewelry- from left to right: Vera Wang, Thakoon, Thakoon
Flight Caps: Hermes, 3.1 Phillip Lim
Embellished Tights: Miu Miu.

smitten under sunless skies

sunless skies, shiverring and in love.


I used to think it was hard to write about happiness, but days like today I just can't help but want to give permanence to this moment via words. I love words. Is it the fact that I am heading in a non external influenced direction that I find passion and excitement for, or is it merely the moving leaves against the white skies, Los Angeles lit by a far away, muted sunlight past the ocean through my window?

I suppose it may just be both.

It's strange I never could pinpoint why I am "happy" under overcast skies… but I think I may have come to some sort of conclusion today. I find myself happiest when in thought, when my mind is working at a fast pace but when I understand the evolution of each contemplation and reflection… it's as if I am in total acceptance, but at the same time heavily motivated and completely full to the brim with content. A sunless sky, or at least a muted one, white like a clean slate prompts this ability to think and feel. Almost like an unraveling of self analyzation. The kind of analyzation that breeds answers to questions I so very often toxically ponder.

The sun impedes such ability.

Anyhow, so I am happy and amazed. Curious and secure. Full of thought and urgently needing to purge words. Any words, all words. These words.

I am wrapped in a cream and chocolate brown striped scarf, shivering, sipping green tea from a Guggenheim, Bilbao mug and completley in love with the windy world.

LA, you have been misunderstood.

Wednesday started off early and non-passionate. Not the best way to walk into an interview. But, that' s just what I did. Overwhelmed by the week only 3 days in -I was not having the most euphoric of days.

In between patients I stopped through Newsroom Cafe for an iced tea and a table to write down words into my moleskine... After a few sips, more than a few words and a couple short telephone calls, a woman came up to me with a single flower and a hug followed by, "Just want you to know that I have tough days too". Who said LA lacks sincerity + compassion????!

HALL OF FAME

Asa [friend+designer+photographer+hockey player+rhymesayer] just visited for a few days from homestate, Vermont. I have spent so many days wandering around the fairfax shopping district but somehow missed the HALL OF FAME, an entire store dedicated to the very best of fitted caps. One of Asa's designs, Ben Franklin-inspired, is being honored against the wall "of fame". These hats are not ordinary baseball caps, they are limited edition, street wear- collectibles designed with fashion on the mind. There are men who feel as strongly about fitted caps as we do about our shoes and handbags. I totally dig it.

Asa Turner: www.asaturner.com
Hall of Fame, 449 N. Fairfax Avenue, Los Angeles; 323-655-6002. For more information, go to www.halloffameltd.com

S.O.S.

my patients sucked all the energy out of me today. i'm literally on empty.
this looks like CPR.

Big Heart Ranch

I visited the Big Heart Ranch in Malibu this past weekend to check out their Equine Assisted Therapy program and see what it was all about. We were able to "guest" a day there and participate in some of the activities they facilitate.
Located on an ocean-view Malibu bluff is quite a ranch . . . a place where the powerful relationships between human, animal, earth and spirit are experienced on a level that offers insight and understanding.

BIG Heart Ranch is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that offers Animal Assisted Growth & Learning, Equine Assisted Psychotherapy, organic gardening, and cultural insight and education for children, families, private groups and corporations. We offer a fresh approach for youth and their families struggling with mental health and everyday life issues. We honor the confidentiality of all participants.

Together with the help of our four rescued Thoroughbreds, two rescued ponies, our Delta certified therapy dog and other animals including chickens, Suri Alpacas, and our team of professionals, BHR offers:

Equine Assisted Psychotherapy
Organic Gardening
Animal Assisted Growth and Learning
Native American Rituals and Traditions
Sustainable Living

(taken from their website)

Love, Guts, Brain & passion written in CURSIVE

To see CURSIVE play a live show is considered a LIFE changing experience.
A display of raw emotion, intention, blood,guts, tears, love, appreciation, passion, rejection, pride, talent&energy. Tim Kasher, the frontman of the Nebraska-native band always manages to alter my state of mind. Although I was entirely sober (can't speak for the rest), the crowd was intoxicated by his charming presence. His honest words and raw guts are sung so fluidly, as if written in Cursive streaming beautifully through the angular music created by the rest of the band. Sincere perfection. So good it hurts.
Although it's hard to pick, my favorite albums are:
Domestica 2000
The Ugly Organ 2003
The band's most recent album was just released a few months ago Mama, I'm Swollen.
Check out their website for show listings, you will not be disappointed.

PHD

I have certainly heard of all you guys who have the "Holiday Blues"... me, on the other hand, I have the Post-Holiday Blues. Christmas trees+cheesy carols+gingerbread+snow+scarfs+mittens+fireplaces+my grandma's soup+cinnamon+vanilla&streets covered with tacky lights and nativity scenes (no offense)... I LOVE THIS. I have been known to want a Christmas tree in my living room all year round.
Thankfully, my mom found the cure to my Post-Holiday Depression (a.k.a. PHD): This White Fir Trapp Candle. Its the tree without the tree. get it?

Trapp candles use 1 perfume bottle in every candle. They pride themselves in the simple idea of "fragrance" using the best they could possibly find, world-wide. The totally awesome packaging is just a plus that's easy on the eyes. Check out the website.

Now, if only they made car scents for us Los Angelenos who spend the majority of our time in-car.

Neko Case

Neko Case just released Middle Cyclone, her newest album. She is on Jay Leno tonight, so.. turn it on, turn it up. and then ... when you fall in love with her, you can stand in line at the Hollywood Amoeba records store tomorrow night (7pm) and tell it to her pretty pretty face.

Freida Pinto + Woody. eeew, not what you think...

Is Woody Allen over Scarlett?? Apparently Woody Allen has found his new muse. Freida Pinto has signed on to play a leading role in Woody Allen's upcoming, still-unamed film being shot in NYC! Naomi Watts, Josh Brolin, Antonia Banderas and Anthony Hopkins have already said to have signed on the project as well!

Mama Pajama

Bootleg to leggings to Skinny Jeans to High Waisted... to PAJAMAS! Pajama style pants are seriously the new thing! But, it's not so much of a roll-out-of bed look, much more put together. Dolce & Gabanna appears to be the trendsetter and Paris has already got the memo. Love it or Hate it...Consider yourself warned!

Grade A Dark Amber Maple Syrup.

If you live in LA, you drive. if you drive, listen to the the black keys. If you don't drive, Listen to the Black Keys. If you live anywhere on this planet, listen to the Black Keys. After you listen to Attack & Release, the Akron, Ohio-based duo's 5th album, Listen to Dan Auerbach's (1/2 of the Black Keys) solo album... some of the songs are co-written with his father.

The Black Keys are like MAPLE SYRUP. rich, smooth, full, sweet... no need for pancakes.

little GREY dress.

CHRISTOPHER KANE, Can we please have high tea and then play dress up in your entire spring2009 ready-to-wear collection?

This British designer makes my little black dress oh so obsolete!




Check out the collection, full screen slideshow on http://www.style.com

it's 38 minutes into Tuesday and I am wondering what the craze about spaghetti o's was all about? okay, i get the noodle part...but the soup? watered down, slightly sweet, way too thin red stuff? nope. don't get it. i am also wondering why after reading 130 pages of dense material regarding the anatomy of the brain why all i can think about is the disgusting nature of really bad, out-of-date, AMERICAN-wannabe -italian fastfood in a can?
hamburger helper, now that was good.

SELF CONTROL.

short snippet of a short story....

i like words and words that describe moments and scenes, here is a short snippet of a short story i am writing.

6 Months. I woke up this afternoon to the perfect weather but without the perfect mind. The questions rolled in and the answers never followed. The emptiness once again filled my stomach and ironically created a hollow space. No hunger however, and surely no thirst. I wanted nothing and no one. And without a calendar I knew-- 6 months. Why can’t I just get past 6 months, what is the significance?

I want to blame it on my runny nose.

He played music, whistling and drumming the beats on whatever surface that came past his hands. I stood in my towel. Eyes lost in the white sky knowing fully well what was going on. I didn’t try and fight it, I really just gave in. Staring into the bland world -finding out that everything was really actually nothing.
Today I couldn’t even find the steadiness or energy to dress my eyelids with the black line they usually wear.

With the lack of inspiration I looked around my memories and found nothing that lit my mind on fire. I relied on the heater. 74. Toasted multigrain with melted butter and the smallest amount of jam that I recognize as perfection when it reminds me of a shade of blush my old piano teacher used to wear. I relied on the crunch. For a moment I was satisfied.

He made the calls. Many of them and I halfway listened to the excitement his tone revealed. I sunk into the slump of my disposition and began waiting for tomorrow. A whole evening and night away I felt nothing. I wanted sadness, even anger. Frustration seemed sufficient- but, nothing happened. I questioned if I was alive. I know better than to listen for a heartbeat- I listened for a feeling. An emotion.
With no avail I confirmed the answer.

The sound of French accents filled my left ear and I was amused by the way my right ear felt like it was listening to complete silence. This just reminded me of my constant duality. I am convinced I can turn half of myself off, while the other half functions with perfect precision. What does this mean?

When the world became less bland I stopped looking. I knew what I was doing. I needed this time to see nothing and be stuck, disappointed and lost--I wanted nothing to do with the rest. Blindfolding myself from anything that could increase life in my empty mind, I told the synapses to stop and I forced myself to stay disconnected.

This is a recharge. I know it seems reversed and terribly masochistic. So what?

We drive in the cold with the top down and the heat up. 86. I watch other people’s lives move by me just like the insipid movie that I was to watch hours later. Lights changed and the same coat seemed to walk by me a hundred times. I close my eyes.

SNIFFFFFerific

Two products that will make people STOP and SNIFF you, if that is what you want.

go ahead...try it. trust me.


pictured above: scented body oil, made by Majenty, Hidden Cove scent. Available at Diavolina's on Robertson Blvd. in Beverly Hills

Veg-tastic!

One of my NEW favorite restaurants is Fattys&Co. in Eagle Rock! An auto garageshop converted into an upscale veggie cafe that serves seasonal, creative, affordable dishes. woah. okay, so once I drove all the way there just for the little wheat rolls. hooked.
check it out, but call ahead, they don't serve lunch and they are closed 2 nights out of the week.
www.fattyscafe.com
323.254.8804

RND! RND!

What is RND ????

Special edition Stella McCartney- designed T's for RED NOSE DAY! These fairtrade, organic T's are made from African sourced cotton and produced entirely in Africa, so the communities involved benefit AND a portion of the sale goes to Comic Relief (which helps raise awareness about famine in Ethiopia)!

Buy a shirt, they are LIMITED, so act fast, OR, just visit http://www.rednoseday.com to learn about why people are talking about red noses, the importance of fairtrade and Comic Relief's initiatives!

mistake? typo? just plain stupid?

For a good hour, this is how Yahoo spelled a certain notorious terrorist's name on the front page of their website...WTF?
In all fairness, they caught their "mistake" around the 11 o'clock hour this morning and in no time the faux pas was fixed and forgotten. thank goodness for screen shots.

KILLSPENCER+Design for Sustainability

A three hour lecture on pharmacology and it's effects on neurons and such things.
I made it out alive and intrigued.
So, we have somewhere between 100 and 1000 billion neurons in our brain. Great. moving on...

Day one of the Art Center Sustainability Conference with KILLSPENCER.
sales were made. lectures were given. words were exchanged and most of all... everyone was all about the KILLSPENCER product line. The Historical Reserve Collection being the most popular among the design intellectuals.

products shown: KILLSPENCER Repurposed Olive Drab Military Tarp Messenger/BRiefcase and Historical Reserve, Messenger/Briefcase Bag.
www.KILLSPENCER.com

Made IN LOS ANGELES with salvaged material from the Korean War Era circa 1950 with patented parachuting buckles and waterproof RiRi zippers. Ride with a messenger bag and walk in with a brief case. woah.
If the 50s isn't your thing, there is a 60's desert storm era bag too!

IN YOUR FACE!

Going to go ahead and make a super blunt statement, this is the best face makeup everrrrr.

The pressed mineral pigment compact (shown to the left) covers blemishes, evens out skin tone & protects with vitamins and minerals. 

Comes in 12 different shades!

Check it out

www.colorescience.com

hello.

hi. this is my blog.
i like humans. words. things&stuff.

i have a story, just like everyone else. I intend to lay it all out. here.

COPYRIGHT 2009 DEEPIKA CHOPRA