Steph Lloyd Bloggie Blog

Lillian’s Home in Vienna

decor8 is a design blog that I read religiously. My jaw dropped when I saw the home featured today. It’s a really cute apartment in Vienna that is decorated in much the same way I’ve been working on ours. It’s like I’ve had her apartment in my mind’s eye and now it’s on my screen. Very strange but so cool.

Decorating does not come naturally to me, my first roommate can attest to that! I have learned a lot on the internet though, mostly what I do and don’t like, and came up with a game plan for our place. Matt and I both want things to be simple, clean and practical. We don’t have a lot of freedom to customize our current rental but I’ve been working on ideas for superficial upgrades.

If I could have one house-related wish granted, I’d wish our carpet be gone. I don’t get carpet. Rugs are good but carpet? Ew. I pulled up a corner of the carpet in our livingroom the other day to see what I’d find. Grody carpet pad, nasty linoleum and gross nail strips. Yuck. I didn’t pull up any of that to see if there are hardwood floors underneath (it sounds like there are) because I wasn’t sure I could cover cover my tracks. Our landlady took pictures before we moved in and is very thorough. The last thing I want is for her to keep part of our deposit because the carpet in the corner looks rumply. There is one section in the bedroom that is loose, maybe I’ll take a peek under there some night when I’m brooding about the carpet. Haha!

Where do you find inspiration for your home? And what would you change in your current pad? I love seeing what people do with their homes!

[photos via decor8]

Surf’s Up

Not all who surf are young, hot hard bodies. This may come as a surprise to you, as it did me, but it’s the truth. There are all types out there. I’ve seen grandpas, large bodies, even Santa Claus. Of course, I’ve seen my share of hotties, both male and female, but most everyone seems to be fairly normal. It’s neat… and makes me feel kind of dumb for taking Hollywood seriously. Haha.

Watching people surf is a lot of fun. I haven’t seen any sweet rides (??) yet but I suppose I haven’t been hanging out where the sweet waves are either. There seems to be a lot of waiting involved, which I never thought about. I told Matt that I could sit out there on my board, chatting and paddling around all day. He laughed. He’s cool like that. I’m not sure that I’ll ever want to actually surf though. It seems fun but I’m not the best swimmer and I’m not the most coordinated, two things that seem key.

I guess you never know… maybe after watching for awhile I’ll get the bug to try it. But for now, I watch. Gladly.

Christmastime In Cali

Growing up in Minnesota, I’ve always equated Christmas with freezing cold weather. Freezing cold weather usually means you don’t see flowers in the ground. You see snow as you are running from the heat of your vehicle to the heat of the house. Well, the weather is quite a bit different here in California. These folks plant poinsettia’s in the ground. The first time I saw it, I was certain that they were fake, but they weren’t. Every time we walked around Old Pasadena, I kept doing double takes as we walked by them. It was seriously freaking me out! It is beautiful, for the record, and quite festive.

I took this picture the day after Christmas when we stopped at Dana Point for lunch. I loved that they planted the poinsettia’s in the regular beds with all the rest of the plants. I suppose they will pull them all up and toss them now that the holidays are over. The thought doesn’t really bother me because our poinsettia’s never lasted that long anyway. Are they known to be hard to care for? They remind me of Boston ferns, I kill them every time.

Definitely one of the highlights of living here are all the plants. My goal is to learn more about how to grow things here… the climate and soil is completely different than anywhere I’ve ever lived. There are so many beautiful areas with lush landscaping. It sometimes feels like the whole town is an arboretum. I love it!

That’s a Wrap!

The holidays are officially over in the Lloyd household. My mom-in-law flew back to Colorado this morning, having stayed with us since Thanksgiving. It was great to have her but our place really shouldn’t house more than two people for very long. It’s tight up in here!

Apart from missing my family at random moments, all went well. We spent Thanksgiving at our house in Pasadena and Christmas at Matt’s brother’s place in Encinitas. Both main meals were delicious. We tried new recipes for almost every dish and, thanks be to Martha Stewart, they all turned out. Ha.

Going to the beach on Christmas Day was a highlight of my life. I’m being serious. There is definitely a place for snow (mountain caps in the distance comes to mind!) but I’m perfectly content with our lack of seasons here in Southern California. I mean it. Blue skies and warm temperatures have yet to get old. I feel like I’m on vacation, like it’s too good to be true! Cabin fever was never my friend and I’m glad that I won’t have to experience it here. We had chilly weather for a week-ish but our landlady loaned us a space heater and it kept us basically warm. Oh, that cold spell was pre-Christmas. Christmas Day was beautiful. :)

Matt and I didn’t stay up to usher in the New Year because we went to the Tournament of the Roses Parade in the morning. My family watched it every year growing up, so I was pretty excited when I found out the parade route comes within a mile of our house. We bought tickets for the bleachers (you can also sit on the side for free but people camp out two days beforehand for the best spots) and had a great time. At some point I’d like to sit over near the cameras though, where everyone starts out because we were close to the end of the route and everyone was tired by the time they got to us. Several bands weren’t playing anything, they were just marching. Really the only person that I saw that was still grinning and waving his little heart out was Jackie Chan on the Shanghai float. Haha. It was awesome!

Now that the holidays are over, we can return to our normal routine. Me- working, Matt- studying. We have hopes and plans for this year but I have yet to document them. We are still discussing a bunch of options, actually. I’m excited to see what this year brings though. 2010 seems so futuristic!

A Rainbow in the Sky

Matt and I were out walking the other day and came around the corner to find thousands of small flags strung overhead. It’s a temporary art installation by a French artist at One Colorado (until tomorrow!). I kinda wish they’d leave them up all year! Walking under them reminded me a bit of walking under all the lanterns for Buddha’s birthday in Korea (pictures). Okay, that was way cooler, but I was still loving the flags in the courtyard!