style – thosecoolkims

Gary Baseman exhibit at The Skirball!

Our minds got blown this weekend at the Gary Baseman exhibit on view now at the Skirball Center in LA. It was such a cool exhibition! It’s called The Door is Always Open and couldn’t be more fitting, as part of it is an entire facade of a house, all done up in his signature style. Our pics don’t do it as much justice — you should just go see it! It’s on view until August 18.

Outside the “house”

Ed, Me and Andreas standing on the Welcome Mat outside the “house”

The Dining Room

Dining Room chandelier and Fireplace sculpture

The Living Room

Awesome Library wallpaper and sculpture on the Living Room mantle

I can’t remember the name of this room! (Borrowed this photo from the internet)

The Bedroom

Seriously creepy Bedroom dresser and closet

It’s even pretty darn kid-friendly. Aside from the “house” on view, there is a small room dedicated to Baseman’s sketches, and tiny tables and sketchbooks for kids to draw whatever they liked! Ruby was enamored with the fact she had a place to “do art”.

So. Much. Awesomeness.

More pics here.

Palm Springs, Day Two

Oh, yesterday was chock full of perfection! It couldn’t have been better, and we managed to fit in just about everything we love in Palm Springs.

First – it must be mentioned that we SLEPT IN.

Then, it was off to Charles Phoenix‘s retro slideshow: Pools, Patios and BBQs. We had been to his Holiday slideshow before, and it was so fun and super kitschy that we knew we would love the backyard one, too. Basically – he has found and collected the jackpot of kodak chodachrome slides from the ’50-’70s, and has compiled them all into one amazing and hilarious compilation. Here’s just one gem of an example from his slides from the show:

Probably even more of a surprise than his show, was the auditorium and grounds of the Palm Springs Art Museum where the show was held! Yes, we always swoon over the amazing mid-century modernness of Palm Springs, but the museum is super-70s, and we couldn’t have been more thrilled! All orange, very orange … we were dying over it, and took a few pics:

After the slideshow, we headed upstairs to catch the Backyard Oasis: The Swimming Pool in Southern California Photography, 1945-1982 exhibit, which is as amazing as it sounds, and the perfect thing to see while in Palm Springs!

After all the amazing architecture and art, we were starving – so it was time to hit up our favorite place to eat in Palm Springs – Norma’s, which is on the campus of the absolutely fabulous Parker Palm Springs Hotel. There’s not a trip in Palm Springs that has happened that we haven’t stopped at the Parker. We love it there and freak out over Jonathan Adler’s design no matter how many times we’ve seen it. Norma’s has the best brunch ever. I got my usual lobster + asparagus omelette and Ed got a take on eggs benedict with pancakes, canadian bacon + asparagus. Yummmmmmmmmmmm.

We’re always planning our next trip to Palm Springs, even before the current one is over, and I’d heard about a new hotel in town called the Saguaro. Basically, they took over the old Holiday Inn and swanktified it – and now, we are definitely going to stay there next time! It looks amazing with all the colors of the rainbow. We could not get enough of this place as we walked around …

After drooling over the grounds of the Saguaro, we took off to drive around the neighborhoods of Palm Springs to admire the gloriously restored and very well loved mid-century modern homes. We even made a stop by one of our old favorite, Richard Neutra’s Kaufmann House, and got a pic of it in my fancy 5-series that I’ve been testing all week!

It was an amazing day!

Palm Springs for Carrie’s Birthday!

Many of you know that Palm Springs is a place dear to our hearts. Iconic mid-century architecture, fun and stylin’ places to hang out and get pampered, and on top of that, it’s just a good place to chill. As such, coming here for Carrie’s birthday has become something of a tradition for us.

And so for Carrie’s birthday this year, where are we? Naturally! This time around, we’re staying at Hope Springs, a place we’ve wanted to check out for many years. Very cool, if slightly bare bones. Carrie’s birthday this year happened to fall on a Friday…the beginning of all the festivities for Modernism Week Palm Springs!

Dipping our feet in the mineral hot springs tub!

THIS is Edfood. Lobster pot pie at Copley's.

We’ve got lots more fun coming tomorrow, so stay tuned!

Ruby scores Harajuku Mini!

Okay, Missoni is cool and all, and I definitely wanted some … but I wasn’t motivated to wake up early or stand in line overnight before it came out to get some when it arrived at Target. But, when I found out that Gwen Stefani was doing a Harajuku Mini line for Target, I knew I’d be doing whatever it took to get my hands on some for Ruby!

I absolutely love-love-love the Harajuku Lovers line. It’s just CUTE, and I love cute. All the little details and all of the girlie characters mixed in with a little rock & roll and a little bit of japanese flavor just gets me every time. I mean, just look at G – my favorite fragrance from the Harajuku Lovers perfume line … she is adorable! Ed gifted me with this, and its one of my favorite possessions.

Knowing I’m not alone in my quest for anything HL (or HM, in this case!), I wasn’t sure what to expect at Target this morning. We were in luck, we were the first in line! A few people started to arrive after us, and it was clear they were there for the same reason we were. Here are Ed and Ruby … patiently waiting … :)

After making it in, we totally scored. I started grabbing everything 12 months, and then sorting through to see what I wanted to keep. Thanks to a birthday gift card from our dear friends Colleen, Quan and Fiona, we were able to get LOTS of stuff (thanks, Nguyens!!!). We ended up going with the Plaid Jumper with Legwarmers set, 2 outfits featuring the adorable Harajuku Baby characters, “Baby Bunny” and “Baby Dog” , along with two pairs of awesome knee socks!

Here’s Ruby with all of her loot:

The girl working at Target told me there was going to be a 2nd wave of the line coming out in December, so you know we’ll be waiting to see what’s new then, too! Can’t wait for Ruby to start rocking her Harajuku Mini fashion! This may also be an excuse for Mommy to get some new Harajuku Lovers gear as well? :)

One thing is for certain: I want to find this luggage for myself! No sign of it at the store, and everything online says things are only sold in stores. So – if you see this suitcase, you HAVE to let me know!!!

5 Years

5 years as Mr. and Mrs. Kim, and this was a milestone anniversary for many reasons! We tend to really go big for anniversaries … we’ve spent them in places like in Miami, Buenos Aires and even The Grand Canyon! So this year, it was tough to think of a way to make this one just as extraordinary (especially with the one-income budget we’ve been adjusting to, and our sweet little baby at home!). But thanks to a really fabulous mother-in-law, this year was no exception. Halmoni stayed with Ruby at our house and got us a room at The SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills!

When we arrived at the SLS, we were told that we’d be receiving an upgraded room … score! As you can see, the rooms are breathtaking and have a modern look that we always die over. We especially loved the leather lounge bench near the window. The SLS’ interior was designed by Phillippe Starck, and we are huge fans. We’ve made special stops in many of the hotels he’s designed, just to gawk. We checked out The Delano Hotel when we were in Miami, we checked out the Clift Hotel when we were in San Francisco, and we saw The Faena Hotel (a masterpiece!) when we were in Buenos Aires. Needless to say, we couldn’t wait to see the SLS.

Just a few more pics of our room …

Aside from the room, we decided to indulge in dinner at the very swanky modern latin restaurant, Rivera.

The restaurant is probably the best take on a modern latin theme we’ve ever seen, and it was very cool inside and out. We thought the food was just okay, though.

If we were really big shots, we could pay for one of these many bottles of tequila embedded in the wall. If you pay a large sum of money, they put your name on one, and you get to have them pull it out for you every time you visit. Big league kinda stuff!

We were pretty anxious to return to the SLS, where a very famous chef, Jose Andres has his very famous restaurant, The Bazaar. We couldn’t get a reservation, but we knew we wanted to grab some cocktails and sample the goods at the on-site patisserie. We ordered cocktails, just a few bon-bons, and two cupcakes. :)

The best part was knowing that we could sleep in and not have to worry about waking up before we were ready to! We rented a movie in the morning (Woody Allen’s, Midnight in Paris) and ordered room service for breakfast! 12 quail eggs sunny side up for Ed, scrambled egg whites with squash blossoms for me, a side of chicken sausage and French Press coffee were delivered to our room as we watched TV. It was pure decadence!

A perfect way to celebrate 5 years!