an ocean, a cashmere blanket and light refracted through trees.

March 31, 2014 | teamgloria

darlings

happy monday!

is that an oxymoron for you? or are you happy to be Back in the general Swing of things?

we have been thinking about Needs (as opposed to desires) today.

not all day.

but, you know, intermittently.

de temps en temps as they might say in la belle france.

Mr. Einstein (didn’t see that coming did you?) said that a (wo)man just needed the following to be completely at ease and inside the comfort-ness-of-life:

a table, a chair, a bowl of fruit and a violin; what else does a man need to be happy?

yes.

agreed.

it’s the Violin that really makes that sentence sing, doesn’t it?

well, let’s see:

*looks_around*

we have a (lovely farmhouse) table, two chairs (and a sofa and a bench that matches the lovely farmhouse table), no fruit in a bowl today (we’ve eaten the fruit up before we go on our Trip To Europe) and, nope, oh that is disappointing, no actual Violin.

oh – WAIT!

we *do* have a virtual violin – there are, in fact, plenty on mr. soundcloud.

https://soundcloud.com/ray-chen-violin/sets/tchaikovsky-and-mendelssohn

then we started to think (not always a good idea but fine as the sun is going down) – what’s our Equivalent of Mr. Einstein’s small yet beautiful requirements?

let’s see….

quiet contemplation and supper with friends.

visiting splendid ladies in the canyon who have Scavullo coffee table books and soft cashmere blankets and feeling useful and inspired.

surrounded by tea lights and soft inspirational pictures in wooden frames.

pulling over on the side of the road and standing on the cliffs above the ocean and feeling the breeze ripple through the (freshly bobbed) hair.
breathing deep in beverly hills as the road winds through the verdant streets.

and taking to the o p e n r o a d with the windows rolled down while listening to Ms. J. Joplin.
https://soundcloud.com/legacyrecordings/2-09-me-and-bobby-mcgee-demo

yes.

that’s it.

the open road, music, cashmere blankets, tea lights, ocean breezes and a regular dose of Doris Day movies, of course.

what’s your list?

do. tell.

*winning_smile_to_camera4*

look who we brought back from our road trip down south.

February 1, 2014 | teamgloria

darlings

we’ve returned!

after the Overwhelming Experience of our first Radio interview as an Author (such a vulnerable and yet Rewarding but slightly – “gosh, it’s r e a l” feeling) we went to accompany who-we-are-in-RL as she had a consultancy gig down south.

we asked if we could take all day to meander home and she said yes.

because we needed the wind in our hair and salty air and several hours wandering around an 18th century Mission and koi carp ponds and a Pier out to sea and stopping at all the smaller beach towns to close one’s eyes and dream a little while.

this was Hermosa Beach (which, you may recall, who-we-are-in-RL wrote about when she had lunch with Mr. Keanu Reeves’ fabulous Attorney Ms. Melanie Cook who has a house in hermosa)

before that, we stopped in at the Mission where the swallows return each year, to light a candle and sit in contemplation.

throwing a small coin in the wishing well beneath the bubbling fountain by the old Mission Bells.

enjoy the sinuous sensuous silkyness of the Koi in the courtyard.

while capturing a few of the blooms for memory’s sake (and yours, in case your roses are under snow in your part of the world and we know many of you are *sympathetic_look*)

the beach towns are lovely in January (we don’t mean to be “rubbing it in” as the Brits say which sounds painful) – just in the spirit of sharing our good fortune and sunlight and sand you see..

some of the local residents even found it possible to take their constitutional without a pashmina (we did not).

if you’re in the area of Hermosa Beach and in need of more pink depression glass for your collection, do ask Bonnie Moton, proprietor of Stars Antique Market, as she has many stall holders with lots of pretty pieces.

Stars Antique Market
526 Pier Avenue
Hermosa Beach, CA
(tel) 310 318 2800

including pearl-fastened gloves. *swoons*

talking of things-that-make-us-swoon…….

*bites_lip*

no, not that.

*giggles*

did we Happen to mention that we stopped by our Publishers’ California HQ (as opposed to the Editorial HQ in Manhattan where they keep the Editors)?

and, well…..

here’s who we brought home.

HURRAH!!

close-up?

of course.

anything for You.

it doesn’t actually come with a lilac ribbon (although we do recommend one if you are purchasing any in the next few days, in readiness for your own Copy to come and live at Your house) but, as you know, we have a Lot of that sort of embellishment at teamgloria towers.

isn’t she beautiful?

*smiles_indulgently*

e x h a l e.

it’s over. it’s here. it’s real. it’s EXACTLY the sort of book that we searched-and-searched-and-searched for when you-know-what-happened and so it feels GLORIOUS that it’s now here – and amusing and delicious that we ended up writing it.

we do hope it’s helpful.

and, well, a lovely addition to the world.

because we need more of those.

*winktocamera4*

have a beautiful saturday, darlings!

sunsets, barry lyndon and listening to radio new zealand.

September 29, 2013 | teamgloria

darlings

thanks to Gallivanta, we’ve been Transported to New Zealand (which is so far away it feels magical and it’s clear that Mr. Peter Jackson thinks so too – and Ms. Jane Campion, of course) and listening to the most popular Radio Programmes from Radio New Zealand and we particularly loved This One which is for the “short wave listener enthusiast” which we didn’t Actually know we Were until transfixed to the digital device here in Los Angeles and listening to transmission Expert Kevin Hands twiddle the knobs in the Southern Hemisphere and pick up faint crackly and somewhat mid-wartime-much-needed-bulletin-type-feel radio waves from inside ASIA and beyond.

glorious.

what else?

let’s see.

a selection of reading/viewing material from the library.

the movies are actually Relevant to the Research (something about Love, Virtual Worlds and Artificial Intelligence – good grief) according to who-we-are-in-RL

admiring the soft light of an evening (while reading and Making Lots of Notes from what we could see from the bathroom as we sunk into bubbles and dreamed of Paris – comme toujours, darlings)

a lot of research (*shhhhhh* – one has to be Very Quiet around here – no loud music unless one wears headphones – those big “cans” from the 70s are our favo(u)rite)

and Making Phonecalls (the notepad came from BERLIN from a lovely friend)

and sunrises (or was that sunset?)

oh. right. This is a Sunset (in santa monica).

and another one.

and we climbed over a fence – naughty – to get this shot (can you see the twinkle lights on the beach? #divine!)

we went to see Barry Lyndon last night (the film, not a person called Barry Lyndon) and it was glorious – alas – very, very long – and so we snuck out at the Intermission but we know how it ends anyway……can’t stay out too late…..you know how it is.

as we don’t have Time to write a review we looked for someone else’s opinion and found this – which we really enjoyed and hope you do too.

you could have guessed we adored the movie from the decor alone – the chandeliers, the candelabra, the gowns, the wigs, the flirting….

*coughs*

back to today:

can you see the lovely light on the workbench in the bottom window?

we just noticed it as we passed by and had to take a photograph instantly. and here’s how we’ve spent much of Sunday………addressing Cards To Editors of Magazines, people-who-own-gorgeous-shops-that-sell-books and People We Admire (yes, all about the book – *innerSqueal*)

we also sent one to William because he likes Post almost as much as we do.

would you like one? email us with your snail mail address: teamgloria(at)teamgloria.com.

back to NZ – (isn’t the interweb a glorious place?) – we’re listening to this programme now – perhaps you’d like to join us?

see. you. there.

*shivers*

real boats and virtual bookshops, scented candles and cult video stores

August 17, 2013 | teamgloria

darlings

we’re Live on Mr. Amazon already!

it happened yesterday – and we only knew about it because George said he’d pre-ordered a copy (*murmurs* Too Kind……darling man) and throughout the day our delicious friends on the world-of-instagram sent us little virtual notes saying they’d pre-ordered Their Copies and we had to go and lie down a little and let all the quiet bubbling feelings of thankfulness subside a little (we do get Overwhelmed easily).

then we thought how much we must have Confused the clever “back-end” (not in a rude way) of Mr. Amazon because our book has an American Publisher and is in American English (so we’ll need to go round and alter William‘s copy, putting in the ‘U’s and so on and so forth so he can read it comfortably in Whitstable) but we don’t know many Americans on Instagram – our fellow aesthetes over There are mostly from Berlin, Tokyo and Seoul so the virtual-packing-people (they have robots now) must have had to look Twice at the labels coming off the machine before they stuck them the right-way-round on the boxes.

oh!

the books will be Real won’t they? in Actual Boxes?

it’s almost too much.

thank goodness who-we-are-in-RL has been Very Busy Working or it would all shut down over here from sheer exuberance.

so while who-we-are-in-RL got on with her deadlines, we whipped up an Amazon Author Central Page (such fun, we snuck our own “logo” in there and she hasn’t yet noticed and again we’re grateful to George who showed us his page and suggested we make one too.)

we looked back through the last few days of Postings and realized we had Completely Forgotten to tell you about visiting The House Of Timothy Jay!

yes, the pictures are from our House, not The House of Timothy Jay because we needed larger format size-wise for our friends at Los Angeles I’m Yours so Tim said we could use Product Shots of his delicious candles which we happened to shoot here, not there. Hope nobody noticed…..

Mostly, we’ve been here – we like to write lying down from time to time and the many delicious deadlines have kept us near the phone (who-we-are-in-RL is being a Consultant, not a writer right now so her hair looks nice and presentable)

the rest of the time we write Here (or in a local cafe or “On Site” as the people in consultant land call it).

and then we took a little detour on the way back from a meeting with lovely people and took in the Marina Peninsula.

and had a moment of reverie from watching the Henley races back in England all those years ago……

the sky was the blue of the scarf we have artfully lying around at home.

and then we went to meet the fabulous duo behind Vidiots* for our column for next week (we’ll be sure to tell you about this one as soon as it comes out)

*naturally we are a card-carrying member of this establishment because it’s the coolest place in town to meet other cinephiles and wearers of black clothing and Doctor Martens shoes with an extensive appreciation of Foreign Films.

when in Rome, love.

we *almost* showed everyone yesterday our Amazon Author Central Page but managed to stop just in time but we did have an Unmistakable smile on our face for the Entire Day.

isn’t life delicious?

and now we get back to work.

as the Dowager Countess said:

What is a Weekend?

1st picture sale!

May 7, 2013 | teamgloria

darlings

we are So terribly Excited.

we made Our First Sale on the teamgloria picture shop nestled in among the other fine Artists at the Redbubble place!!

*VastSmiles*

and then we got to write in an email missive “we will stand by for the Foreign Desk” which is something we’ve Always wanted to say (it felt Very Mitford in Paris).

it’s 07:27AM in Los Angeles (are you having a delicious hour further on in the day wherever you are?) and we really Must get ready but just wanted to share a few pictures with you from the early morning light over Here before we get washed and brushed up.

and we’ve Already been sent TWO chandeliers (pictures – not the actual darlings via Mr. FedEx) – one in Berlin *shivers* and the other faded glory from Notre Dame, Paris.

isn’t that lovely.

we adore being the sort of virtual character that one would send chandelier pictures to, for sustenance and relish-ment-ness.

*sighs*

do you have a “thing” (keep it clean) that people like to send you?

we once knew someone who liked pictures of tigers.

and another young person received gifts of wooden hedgehogs (ours is not to reason why, it was a charming collection) – another had Snow Globes all over their grown-up office.

and you?

*peersthroughtheinterweb*

what do people send you?

nothing naughty please – *giggles* – we know about That sort of picture exchange *blush* ;-)

vision boards in silver lake.

April 28, 2013 | teamgloria

darlings

we went to silver lake last night and there was laughter and thai food take-out and candles, roses, tons of magazines and sparkly mineral water, scissors, glue and glaze.

yes!

we were doing Vision Boards.

wait!

don’t leave…….

vision boards are not only magical but Awfully Helpful in revealing what one might be looking for or about to arrive if only one would Stop long enough to see the train pull in and not run to the station ahead on the Line and see it leave.

yes, patience.

and gloriousness.

plus some of the Best people do such things, don’t you know.

and it IS Los Angeles – we must adhere to at least a few of the local customs.

they’re so delicious. yes.

lovely.

words+pictures = a new life.

just as we had hoped and wrote about the day-before-we-moved-back-to-this-Coast.

what we’re a little Perplexed By are the two old wooden doors to the left and the right of the image – the beautiful chap is definitely portrait photography (and a tiny bit reminiscent of a shot by Mr. Ritts which is an awfully good sign) – there are words/books/morebooks mentioned and a preponderance of satin and designer fragrances (on the right track already with both then) – there’s a chandelier (phew) and a 1930s Hollywood shot of Mr. Grant and the twinkling lights from over Mullholland Drive and our favo(u)rite place for tea (and christmas morning breakfasts) – chateau marmont

– but the Doors – are they of Perception?

“There are things known and there are things unknown, and in between are the doors of perception.”
― Aldous Huxley

how exciting.

soft pink roses, linens and candlelight.

May 4, 2011 | teamgloria

It’s raining in NYC today. So much for spring…..bring on the burnished glass votive holders from Rachel Ashwell’s Shabby Chic, strike a match from some glamorous cafe and enjoy the photograph of the anteroom’s gloriousness inside The Pierre, (before you enter Le Caprice).