dreaming of tulle and hat boxes at The Wish List 98.9 miles south of L.A

October 18, 2013 | teamgloria

darlings

we emerged sleepily onto the back streets and then (pepped up by the dark embrace of caffeine) roared onto the freeways and Headed South.

despite leaving *almost* at Dawn the traffic was unbearable so we told the lady-voiced-global-positioning-system to DETOUR! and she came up with a much better route that was very long and winding and……

took in many trees……

and sunlight kisses through branches and ground cover of delicate varying shades of pink floral blooms…

and a tiny train station with just one platform and a sneak peek of the OCEAN beyond…..

and the MOST DELICIOUS vintage shop in a tiny bungalow called The Wish List.

here’s the address in case you happened to be in the locale one fine day.

2945 Madison St
(between Carlsbad Village Dr & Grand Ave)
Carlsbad, CA 92008

and they even have a page on that chap Mark’s hangout: https://www.facebook.com/wishlist.carlsbad

treasures galore!

hat boxes and over-stuffed drawers with family wedding photographs and the sort of cases that Laura Ingalls Wilder probably had when she left Ma and Pa and went off to be a young teacher and had just a few changes of clothes (which she had sewed herself having bought the materials from that general store with the daughter with the unfeasibly bouncy ringlets)

the owner of this treasure trove of beauteousness is called Kristin and we had a few moments so we stopped and had a little reverie at her story (everyone has a good story if you only ask and then put on your nice listening face and the magic tumbles into your head and stays there all happy it has found a new home) – there was a tale of Nashville and Another store that was there and then coming back to the place she was from – which is here – 98.1 miles south of los angeles in a hamlet called Carlsbad – and creating a place that looks awfully like Andie’s bedroom in Pretty in Pink.

and there was even a cat (we think her name was Olive).

and signs and aprons and a general deliciousness of “Enter Here!”

and words to stop and make you think.

it reminded us of Albert Camus.

(you didn’t see that coming did you?)

“In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back.”

and then, later on – after we had tagged along behind who-we-are-in-RL as she did her Consulting Work and sat with a pen and made notes and some (rather insightful) suggestions and there was laughing and new people and a coffee break and meeting engineers and lists and much paper inside manilla folders – it was time to go – and we took a walk to stretch our legs and eat a little supper and have a most glorious foot massage and generally avoid the traffic on the way back to L.A, leaving after dark – and suddenly, out of the darkness, we heard a WOOT WOOT! and it was the Pacific Surfliner Train rushing onwards and further up the Coast.

it was a lovely moment.

so we waited a while to let the feelings sink just beneath the surface and rest awhile before we got in the perfectly silver Prius and drove allthewayhometolosangeles.

heather’s expat gold from france and a magical afternoon into evening in silver lake.

February 26, 2013 | teamgloria

darlings

we will post later.

but for now, we’re still glorying in Heather’s responses to the encircling-nature-of-the-Questions we’ve all been asking each other recently.

divine.

especially her references to the Duckman, expat gold (glossy pages) and songs of aching pain and longing and gloriousness.

these Q & A have been a virtual dinner party for us recently and we’re Tickled Pink by learning more about you delicious friends via-the-interweb.

*peersMistilyViaInterweb*

very moved.

talking of glossy pages – we found a stack of vintage Gourmet magazines in a thrift store in silver lake yesterday and poured over them at our desk this morning as the sun tickled the back of our neck happily.

and then we cut out bits we loved and squished them together inside the pages of the moleskine 147 (actually another brand but equally gorgeous)

there were spring flowers in jars at the diner yesterday and we sat at the counter and wrote because there’s nothing more delicious in the World than sitting at a counter and writing in the afternoon.

then we went to Yolk and watched as the lights were turned off on the magical creatures that live there (until someone special buys them and they go to live somewhere else).

this is a very cool place to Live.

isn’t life delicious?

snow melting in tribeca

November 8, 2012 | teamgloria

darlings

we took a little trip to tribeca and picked carefully over the soaking wet pavements/sidewalks as the snow melted and looked up to the not-so-tall buildings (few skyscrapers here) to admire signs-from-the-industrial-past.

may we share a few of our B&W photographs with you?

too kind.

pause to look into camera and smile (sweetly).

*yes, we’re still obsessed by the BBC program(me) The Hour and imagining ourselves as a Roaming Reporter, heading to Lime Grove, London with our copy in our small shorthand notebook (tis not far from the truth actually – we once used to Dial in our Copy after late night events at the Royal Festival Hall on an actual payphone – yes, Young People – a payphone – and the Copy Ladies would wait obligingly while we teetered over using a different word for the Opening paragraph before the Copy Editors savaged it the next morning for the Late Edition – ah – heady days).

we digress (as usual.)

pictures.

cue camera one.

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now we looked and looked and looked In Vain for some mention of Tribeca in Twice Over Lightly (if you’ve just joined us, we’re re-enacting salient chapters of the classic 1972 travel book about New York by Anita Loos and Helen Hayes).

sadly, it seems, they didn’t venture to this Triangle-below-Canal-Street at all.

but we did.

and it was very good for the (wintry) soul.

off to achieve now.

you know, in some moderate, understated and yet deeply useful way.

ancestors, shoes, fireflies and two questions.

April 4, 2012 | teamgloria

have you met teamgloria’s ancestors, darling?

aren’t they Just MAGNIFICENT?

we hooted with joy upon seeing them in a Vintage Magazine recently.

delicious.

how’s your day?

we had a lovely meeting with someone in some Very Spiffy Shoes:

rather 30s spats, non? lovely.

then there was a Lot of Work (am quite creaky in the shoulders from the typing and the phone-holding-under-the-ear-ness)….a Lot Today.

including some deeply interesting stuff we can’t talk about but will definitely be included in an autobiography at some Juncture, we imagine.

the day we met……

that sort of thing.

and the day started Very Early.

hello, dawn, basically.

then this was a magical moment a Bit Later on.

as we looked over from the desk, we kept seeing flashes of light – it was the sunlight quickly reflecting on the metallic tops of automobiles as they sped under the trees and on and up through the park. For a second it felt like there were fireflies darting through the leaves, letting themselves bask in the light.

see. we almost get a tiny bit, you know, poetic.

which isn’t easy in the sniper fire of midtown manhattan, lady.

ok.

two questions for You.

when is your next vacation? Give dates and tell us it’s booked. Not that “I’m thinking of Venice” type response. Dates. And a confirmation email notification from your online booker (or private secretary if you’re that Smart).
when is your next massage booked? And come back to leave us a note here when you wake up the next day to thank us.

no arguments.

it’s hard work out there.

you Deserve It.

answers in the little box below, darlings.

go on.

you’ll feel better.

and it’ll make us smile prettily.

a brilliant birthday

March 9, 2012March 9, 2012 | teamgloria

’twas a Full day Indeed.

A year older.

And much wiser.

Especially about Danish customs.

Thought you were in Paris? (we imagine you saying, with a quizzical look at the screen of your choice)

Mais Oui.

Which is why we started our day with the shutters flung open to thrill at the Parisian dawn before we swam and then took a long walk around the city’s winding secret passages and ended it by attending a northern European film festival with a Danish movie (Beast) as one does.

When in Paris.

There was some work too, along the way, but it was Paris. So the backdrop to our enterprise looked almost cinematic.

Even purely and truly cinematic (scroll down to the clapboard). Yes. We had lunch in the Very Spot where Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson dine in something’s gotta give (although the French release was titled differently without the same sense of surrender ;) bien sur).

This is where we sat.

And this is Diane Keaton, in the movie, we hasten to add. We didn’t have lunch with Diane – this year.

Although we Did celebrate our birthday at Trader Vics in Los Angeles in 2003 with Carrie Fisher and Tracey Ullman at the same table but we weren’t the Main Feature (as you might imagine) as there were two Other March 9th celebrants in our small party*

*we just happened to be with friends – new and old – at noon today on avenue George V – and met Yet Another lovely person born on march 9th – delicious.

Back to This Birthday!

This is the view from our hotel room for the weekend.

Work doesn’t resume until we fly to Italy on Sunday #quelleLaVieJetSet so we decided to move to the Latin Quarter for a more downtown feel.

And, finally, we slipped into a screening of the Danish film beast

Not sure if we’d recommend it as it was darkly disturbing and deeply Danish (brooding, intense skies, snowfalls, emotional jags and sharp knives) but beautifully shot.

A perfect birthday.

Paris – movies – bookshops – friends – hotel shutters and musing over a rapidly filling-up-moleskine-with-notes-about-Life*

*and other subjects that begin with L

Like lighting.

Moving downtown has taken us from chandelier-land to the lair of the Anglepoise.

We are adjusting to a chicer stance.

Less louche.

More black trench coat and cloche hat.

Less cashmere sweater and pearls.

If you know what we mean.

fiat abarth 695 1970

May 28, 2011May 28, 2011 | teamgloria

Oh! Look! The perfect car for a long summer in Sanary sur Mer while writing one’s novel on between the wars decadence and deliciousness. Can’t you just picture pootling (v p g wodehouse word) round the coast and dropping in on charming acquaintances for the weekend that one met in berlin one sharp spring day – and now here you are – south of france, burnished by the sun with a buffed body from the salt and the sea and nights beneath a mosquito net (sometimes with a companion ;)

I almost bought it.

But today I’m in NYC – at least for until summer 2012.

Then, who knows whither I shall roam (or pootle)

(In case you want to buy it, it’s parked on the corner of great jones st and lafayette)

european newspapers, coffee and jazz.

April 30, 2011June 23, 2011 | teamgloria

it’s saturday: time for european newspapers, coffee and jazz.

perhaps here at ground support, west broadway, soho…..all wood tables, collections of vintage National Geographic magazines and a thoughtful, intelligent, proprietor, who truly understands what makes a welcoming neighborhood establishment. His name is Steven Sadoff and he’s interviewed here.

don’t just take my word for it – new york magazine did a jolly nice review…..

We all have our baggage.

April 26, 2011June 23, 2011 | teamgloria

Genius.

Sadly we do.

But progress, not perfection honey.

Grin.