just so we're clear

anthony bourdain is pretty much my hero






p.s. trip to vancouver soon. i'll update about the epic hotel.

-josh

Marfa, shmarfa

Does anyone else out there remember the story Domino did on the couple in Marfa, Texas that converted an old gas station into their dream home? I was thinking about it today, and how I'd love to have the courage to move to a tiny town in the middle of nowhere and just exist. So I did some research. Creeped on some websites, and so many flickr accounts that my brain went fuzzy. Here are two of my favorite photos:

By Justin Parr.

By katastrophik.

Marfa is located in the high destert of Western Texas. It's about 200 miles from El Paso, 470 miles from Dallas, and 600 miles from Houston. Ouch.
Giant (with Elizabeth Taylor, James Dean, and Rock Hudson) was filmed there in the 1950s. And more recently, There Will Be Blood and No Country For Old Men. It's a huge art community, well known for it's galleries and soon, it's annual film festival!
I'm pretty bummed that I only found out about the film festival today. The very first film festival is being held May 1-5. Tickets are only $200 for a 5 day pass, and they've a limited availability-- only 200 are being sold! Perhaps next year. My only dilemma is convincing Joshua who 1) doesn't like to sweat, and 2) hates Texas, to be my travel buddy.
And when I do visit, I only want to stay at the Thunderbird Motel. The decor is minimal and clean. The pool is heavenly. And they have a special "Mystery Lights" tour, complete with glow in the dark t-shirts and a coffee mug.

And how can I forget? The home that inspired this post!


-Ashley

moving

I finally got a new apartment, away from the drama and all my own. I'm extremely excited to be moving out on my own again, and even more excited to have Ashley with me for the summer.

I am not, however, excited to move. I've realized that I own a lot of big things for a 22 year old male, the most daunting of which being my big ass tv, heavy couch, and 2 refrigerators. Dwelling on this subject for a while, I came to the conclusion that I need to befriend a strongman competitor.

Think about how much easier life would be if I could have a friend who would carry both of my fridges at the same time.



I wonder if he can take it up to the 3rd floor though....



I'll update later with photos of the new place. It's a pretty fantastic apartment.


-Josh

travel travel travel

Ashley and I are both traveling at the same time. Just not on the same flights. Or airports.



I decided now would be a good time to list three things that keep me sane during traveling.



first:
my panasonic retro headphones.





second:

my ipod



(side note - nelly furtado is the music choice of Apple's marketing team, not myself.)



third:

print magazine




more to come later

-Josh

I don't know what it is, but I can't stop obsessing over what I like to call "robot chic." Basically, I want to live in a Daft Punk video. Or better yet, this video from Kap10Kurt.


The synopsis of the video reads, "In a world full of danger, where music is banned by an evil militia, Kap10Kurt, an easy-going hero, helped by his sexy mate Leah, will blow up this Machiavellian conspiracy." Easy-going heroes? Sexy sidekicks? Overthrowing a "Machiavellian conspiracy?" I'm so in.

In addition to Kap10Kurt's video, I'm especially fond of the new Justice video for DVNO. So Me, of Ed Banger "fame," is responsible for the visual orgasm. Maybe I'm going a little too far. It's pretty awesome though.


Continuing on, Bobby over at Kitsune Noir has started a pretty fantastic project, asking his favorite artists and designers to contribute a wallpaper. My favorite, by far, is the one by Dustin Hostetler of UPSO. I highly suggest you all check it out, as new wallpapers are posted every Wednesday morning.

And what would robot chic be without fashion. My darling, Julez and I have been obsessing over robot sunglasses. You know what I'm talking about. The pre-venetian blinds Kanye glasses. I found my pair at Target for $18. I seriously feel complete with them in my life now.

Coming soon... I'll upload a mix for you lovelies. Look out for Treasure Fingers, Justice (of course), a ScenarioRock remix by Sebastian, Danger, and maybe some Earth, Wind, and Fire if you play your cards right.


-Ashley

PSA: While robots are awesome, robo-tripping is not. Put down the 'tussin. You're not Tara Reid (unless you are, in fact, Tara Reid. Then by all means, keep up the good work.).

New York, I love you...

It's been a while since an update, but in our defense, Josh and I both go to school and work full time. Blogging has been the furthest thing from our minds lately. However, we cannot pass up the opportunity to jump around and shout into the internetz: WE'RE GOING TO NEW YORK TOMORROW!!!
We'll be staying with my bff, Asta, at her amazing apartment in Brooklyn with its huge windows, vaulted ceilings, and probably the biggest kitchen in all of New York City (it's still pretty small, though).
While in New York, we plan to be huge tourists and visit as many museums and eat as many Magnolia Cupcakes as one can in 4 short days. I'm especially excited for the New Museum in the Bowery. I've been buzzing about to just about anyone who'll listen. Gorgeous architecture, brilliant new artists, and only a $6 admission fee for students-- what more could you ask for?

One exhibit that I'm particularly interested in, and I think Josh will be too, is Young Hae Chang Heavy Industries "Black On White, Gray Ascending." The website describes it as "Using Flash animation techniques, they create fast-moving, text-based artworks that are synchronized with original scores. Using a seemingly simple format—texts on monochromatic backgrounds—YHCHI weaves complex and evocative narratives. Invoking the genre of film noir, and the hard-boiled literary styles of Raymond Chandler and Phillip K. Dick, YHCHI’s imaginative, witty and often politically pointed narratives offer layered and compelling stories in which identities are assumed and discarded, and ideologies of all persuasions are held up and questioned."


This post has been exceedingly text heavy, so I'll just shut up here. I promise lots of pretty photos and videos once we actually get to the Big Apple. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it'll snow!!

-Ashley

knobs knobs knobs

I found this old dresser in my grandmother's garage that I have had plans to restore for a while. Yet like many of my projects, it took a back seat to work and school, and is currently sitting in the outside patio storage of my current apartment. recently I have finally felt inspired enough to finish. All it really needs is sanding and a paint treatment. I want to find a good way to paint it with a cool distressed look similar to this one, except not pink.








I've been researching ways to properly paint it to get the look I want, and finding a few solutions. I did however, find a spectacular set of knobs from anthropologie that I had to buy for it. I think they're a nice blend of our design tastes.










dresser photos via Sweet Feet Boutique blog


knobs available at Anthropologie

Salle de Bain

In less than a year, I'll be making my official move to the West Coast to start my life with Joshua. In doing so, I'll no doubt, have to compromise a lot of my interior design aesthetic. So I figured, as my last chance to deorate how I really want to decorate, and to push my extreme girliness to an all-time high-- I've decided to turn my bathroom into a St. Regis meets French Boudoir bathroom wonderland.
I've pulled some images, along with some clips from youtube, to share my inspiration with you. Enjoy.

And some links where I always find inspiration:
The Paris Market & Brocante in Savannah, GA (My favorite shop!)
The Paris Apartment


-Ashley

take-away shows

I saw this a few months back and always thought it was an awesome idea. Essentially, its a band going out and playing as close to acoustic as they can get while walking around and entertaining the masses. They will often get whatever crowd gathers involved in the singing. This idea really struck me as spectacular - something about the idea of pushing these fairly successful bands back to an era of street performance.

#64.1 - Beirut - Nantes
Uploaded by lablogotheque

via blogotheque

here is a list of all the bands. some amazing stuff.


-Josh

Cody Hudson

I came across Cody Hudson's work on accident actually. I was trying to find Decoradar's website (I'll post on them later). Google must have had a brain-fart, because it brought me to Cody's work on GoodShapeDesgin.
I'm particularly fond of the green one. It reminds me of that R. Kelly song "Ignition" that was popular when I was in high school.

To learn more on Cody, check out this article on fecalface.com (yeah, I know).
Also, his site StruggleInc.

-Ashley

(Photo originally uploaded by chotda on flickr.)
For a while now, Joshua and I have been discussing color coordinating our bookshelves. I've always been one to organize my books alphabetically by author, then by title, and so on. Color coordinating our books seems like such a chic, young way for us to organize and draw attention to color in our seemingly colorless homes. I'm just hoping when we do have the chance to organize (105 days according to our Crate and Barrel gift registry!) I'll be able to find my Shopaholics amongst his Bukowskis.

-Ashley

i usually can understand the apple fan base

but sometimes.....












i'm just stumped.



via world wide fred

-josh

-Ashley

guns guns guns

for some reason i keep finding things that are basically guns restyled into something else.

and i want them all. 

lamp via LBC lighting

eggs via UrbanTrend

this blog

is to discuss our inspiration.

and our forthcoming dwelling.

whenever we finally get there.

-josh (and ashley)