Autumnal Splendor

It was cold today. It was finally cold. It felt like fall-- cool, crisp, magical and a little dangerous. It's my favourite time of year. I even wore a jacket today. The fact this is notable goes to show how abysmal the weather has been lately. I took a walk to the harbour-- another blessing of this time of year is that the beach is vacant. Perfect, especially since the cool grey glow of the sea is best experienced under a cloudy sky. I also stopped by Peet's today for my favourite tea: Jasmine Downey Pearls, iced. If I were Athena it would be my ambrosia. The courtyard at Peet's is also divinely relaxing, given there are no small children or cell-phoned business men around.

The sidewalk sign and glow of the windows at Mohawk General Store.

In other news, I was L.A. yesterday to see Phantom of the Opera at the Pantages. It was a lot of fun, though I am generally ambivalent about musical theater and eighties-tinged music. At the end of the evening I stopped by Intelligentsia in Silver Lake. It shares Sunset Junction with a store I had just read about yesterday morning-- Mohawk General Store. It was closed at the time (I ordered Clover coffee by the way), but the view from the windows was charming. I hear tell they are quite pricey, but I am going to go just to be surrounded by the indie brand clothes and vintage (especially mid-century modern) furniture placed aesthetically about the shoppe. Plus, the name is kind of cool.

Finally, I walked around State Street last week and found these things especially exciting:

Funny painting in a ramshackle antique. Too expensive or he would have been mine.

A wall at Restoration Hardware.

Please note, those skulls (fake in this case) are very reminscent of some my favourite things: The Dead Weather's aesthetic, and the decor and styling of British clothier Allsaints Spitalfields. Even Restoration Hardware (another personal favourite) is getting in on this. Good thing my mom has offered to loan me those spare antlers lying around back home...

Finally, this coat. Looks just like the vintage coat I bought in Covent Garden last year, only Mortimer (as I dubbed mine), is better. He's real, he's longer, his fur trim is authentic and as soft as an infant's head fuzz. He was also much cheaper. Still, good to see Anthropologie and I are on a similar page.

My closet? No, Anthropologie.