Carrie – Page 60 – thosecoolkims

SF, Day 2

Today started off with a bang. We got up relatively early with plans to explore. First, Carrie got to indulge in a little retail therapy at a bonafide Benefit Cosmetics store. Benefit is from San Francisco and Benefit is Carrie’s favorite!

So cute. Carrie loves Benefit makeup!

Next we headed up (um, down) Lombard Street because a) it’s the curviest street in the country, and b) it just wouldn’t be a vacation if Ed didn’t have to go on some crazy driving mission. It was cool though, and it gave us a lovely view of the city-by-the-bay. Ed was very excited to drive down this famous street!

After Lombard Street, we hit up SF MoMA. Wow – it was perfect. They had this really cool student exhibition there – California College of the Arts at 100: Innovation by Design – it was AWESOME. We were so impressed by the collection. It was our favorite exhibit of the day, without a doubt. L.A. should be ashamed of itself, MOCA doesn’t even come close!

We shopped around in the museum shop, oogled all the fancy modern merchandise and decided it was time for a cocktail, so we cruised around the corner to the W Hotel for our usual martinis…

Speaking of swanky, now we have to go get ready, ’cause we’re going to fancy dinner at Frisson

Check this place out!

SF, Day 1.

We made it! We arrived after a hassle-free flight from LB to SF on Jet Blue, and boy was it nice. No drama! We barely had time to finish our celebrity-trash magazines before we hit the ground, talk about quick transportation!

Ed even found a place where you can rent a hybrid, so in the spirit of blending in with the crowd up north, we hopped in our Civic Hybrid, and headed off to the city. Ever seen the South Park episode where San Francisco is suffering from SMUG – not smog – because of all the righteous hybrid drivers? Ha. It’s a good one. Ed also scored a portable Navigation System that he is evaluating at work, so we brought it with us and now we can find anything anywhere – it’s gonna be a good weekend!

We checked into the hotel and decided to grab a bite to eat. We walked down the street and stumbled upon this gem:

Yum. This place was old school and had a nice kitschy vibe to it. Our table sat in front of this cool fake foresty area – very similar to the Train Ride at Disneyland when you cruise past the era of the Dinosaurs.

Staying true to their name, they even managed to delicately place an odd old ship amongst the fake greenery in all it’s glory…

The food was delicious – we had yummy guacamole, a few margaritas, and the fave of the evening – tasty Mexican Soup.

Tomorrow is SF MoMA (among others)! Can’t wait to check out this city!

Elfa Evolution: Complete!

Well, we’re finally finished with the closet. While it didn’t turn out exactly as we’d hoped, we still think we did a real good job. Bottom line is, we’re real people with a considerable amount of stuff. Although we try and maintain a “minimalist” household, we’ve still got things we like to use and really do not want to get rid of. But the goal was met – to get the space to serve as more efficient and practical storage. So now for the pics…

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Just to keep with the documentation of the process…here’s where we began this morning:

The Elfa system works by installing a top piece, and then everything hangs from it:

Ed assembling the sliding drawer system:

Starting to take shape:

Installation is complete!

Well, here’s where we decided we’ve got too much stuff! And we even sorted through everything more than twice! Oh well, at least everything has got its place. And Carrie’s dream – to have an organized easy way of accessing all of her varying paper – has been granted!

Our solution to solve the overloaded appearance of the space was to hang some curtains. We had an extra shower curtain rod, so we butted it up underneath the lip of the top of the closet and hung them. It’s working for now!

How’d we do? :)

Elfa Evolution

Well, we got our tax refund this year (Yay for being married homeowners! Shocking!) and we finally were able to make a move on our dream to change the closet space in our loft/office. We have wanted to organize the big closet up here and turn it into a real art storage space. There’s gonna be a place to store Carrie’s straight-edges and portfolios, our laptop bags and art books, and even have good looking “junk” storage. The Container Store is a bit overwhelming, but it’s inspiring, and it definitely makes you wanna get all crazy with the organization. Game on.

So, since we also knew that some really sporty folks who used live across the lake from us also designed their closet Container Store Style, we decided to check out the fancy Elfa system. Man – that stuff is awesome! So many options, so many possibilities. And, its simple too…you just install the upper frame and everything clicks and hangs from there.

We took the dimensions and headed over today (we started last weekend by doing some serious spring cleaning and eliminating a lot of crap) and ended up with a great plan to transform the space. We decided it would be fun to document the process – how Top Design of us – so we’ll begin with Day 1:

The “BEFORE” pic:

Chiseling out the icky-ugly closet rod and shelf:

It’s outta there!

Patching up the nail holes/prepping to paint:

Try not to laugh, but we are newbies with the home improvement!

Tune in tomorrow for more exciting progress! :)

Hybrid Parents

Good ol’ Mom & Dad. They just bought a Prius. They look cute, don’t they?