Thompson Family-Life

Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, California

As I mentioned, I got to visit Little Tokyo in Los Angeles because I had some unexpected downtime before my flight out (did you know this was my very first time in LA? Crazy right?). Luckily Katie recommended a visit to Little Tokyo. I think she knew I'd love it! And I did. And my wallet was poorer because of it.

I want to go back because I didn't get to see all of the shops! The first shop I went to was a grocery store. Which, believe it or not, has some of the cutest things to be seen! Just the packaging alone will get any design-lover giddy. Some things I bought JUST because of the packaging, like these animal chocolates. I justified buying them as treats for the boys. (ha) Look at all of those cute little faces!

Needless to say, the boys were happy to see their treats when I got home. And I was happy to just look at them.

It amazes me the creativitiy that runs through Japan and how they make even the most mundane things have personality. I love the idea that everything deserves a good design, no matter what it is. Packaging has come a long way in the States, but wouldn't it be such a fun world to live in if everything was as cute as in Japan?

(More photos coming of my Little Tokyo loot! You didn't think that was it, did you?)

Pappy & Harriet's, Pioneertown, California

We ate at Pappy & Harriet's (cute website, right?) in Pioneertown on my trip out west to California. The food and drinks were super good, definitely recommend! It's also apparently a popular destination for music shows. The stage is pretty charming. You kind of feel like you're at a real honky-tonk, which is fun! I love the stage...

Here are the original Pappy & Harriet...

You can tell A LOT of good times have been had here over the past few decades. It would be fun to see live music here. It's a very small and intimate setting. After doing some googling, I found quite a few cool posters designed for shows that took place at Pappy & Harriets - including one of my personal faves, Neko Case. That's her poster below on the left with the fox. Most of the others were designed by Michael Wertz. Really cool designs! There's a Camp Out Music Festival in Joshua Tree every year and it looks like several of the shows play at Pappy & Harriet's.  (Source for the vampire lady with laser eyes here.)

Pappy & Harriet's is definitely worth a stop if you're in the area! It sits at the entrance of Pioneertown.

Pioneertown, California

I'd been hearing about Pioneertown from Heather for a while now and had seen her pictures of it and I knew I wanted to check it out on this trip! It's about a 30-45 minute drive from Palm Springs. Pioneertown started as an Old West motion picture set, built in the 1940s. The movie set was designed to provide a place for the actors to live, and at the same time have their homes used as part of the movie set. Roy Rogers was among the original developers and investors, and Gene Autry frequently taped his show at the Pioneer Bowl bowling alley (sadly now closed). According to IMDB, many films and TV shows were filmed in Pioneertown including Annie Oakley, The Gene Autry Show, and the TV show and Movie, The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (with an extremely handsome Paul Newman).

Many of the buildings are inhabited (meaning, people LIVE in them! wow, right?) or are businesses. There's even a working Post Office. 

The "Joshua Tree" above

(the boot above was actually taken at a flea market nearby)

Below there was a house with these little prayer areas (I guess you would call them), with circles of rock arrangements, and little "art installations" inside the circles. You could really call it "junk accumulations" more like.. ha. But really interesting little collections! I'm not sure if the home owner created these, or if visitors have added things, or maybe it's a combo of both. The whole thing reminded me of that movie Gas, Food and Lodging, of which I really want to watch again after going to the desert.

These old school desks were set up with old typewriters. Totally bizarre and fascinating at the same time. My first thought was "What if it rains?" and then I was like "yeh... it's the desert." 

My first thought when I saw these little toy collections was that my boys would LOVE this.

Until next time, Pioneertown!

2013 Palm Springs, California Trip - Insta Recap

Center photo: Me, Katie & Heather in Pioneertown

From top left, moving around clockwise: 1. "Happy Trails" Sign, Pioneertown // 2. "Swap Meet" we stumbled onto in Joshua Tree // 3. Driving through Yucca Valley & Joshua Tree // 4. Desert Swap Meet/Flea Market // 5. Palm Springs Backdrop // 6, 7, 8. Route 62 Vintage Antique Mall // 9. Katie's thrift pillow find! // 10. Beautiful embroidered vintage poncho // 11. My feet lounging at The Saguaro // 12. The infamous windmills right outside of Palm Springs // 

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I'm back from my trip to Palm Springs! I thought I'd put together this little (or big!) Instagram recap. If you follow me on Instagram, you have seen most of these, but it's nice seeing them all together like this I think, too. If you want to see some larger, you can visit my feed online. 

I'm going to share some brief thoughts on this trip and how it differed from my last, but first I wanted to share my experience with this new phone in case you are in the market for a new phone and aren't sure if you want to take the iphone splurge, or save some pennies and go with a Droid. I have to say, I unequivocally LOVE this phone. There are of course pros and cons to both the iphone and android, but this phone, for me, fulfills everything I wanted in a phone. I pulled up the photos I took in Photoshop and was AMAZED at the resolution quality when I zoomed in.

I am a very happy girl. 

Also. THE SCREEN. It's HUGE! Comparing it to my iphone carrying friends on this trip, my screen is much bigger. But it is still very easy to handle - not TOO big. The screen image quality is so fantastic. I'll stop there, but I just felt like I had to share this in case anyone is phone shopping! Since Droids can now pretty much use any app that an iphone can, this is an awesome phone to have (Samsung Galaxy s2).

Center photo: Marilyn Monroe statue (did you know Marilyn was discovered in Palm Springs?)

From top left, moving around clockwise: 1. Vintage typography book I found at Revivals Thrift store // 2-10. Little Tokyo in LA // 11. Inside The Saguaro // 12. Sanrio Claw Machine in Little Tokyo

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Some trip highlights:

- Staying at The Saguaro. Yes, the highly pinned hotel that every design enthusiast and color-lover swooned over last year. And guess what? It is MUCH more impressive in photos. Ha! Don't get me wrong, it's super cute, but the photos make it look a bit more upscale. And not that I'm a hotel snob whatsoever. We are budget accommodation all the way. But I kind of expected more. It's definitely a bit more "dinky" for the money. It wasn't too expensive, but it wasn't exactly cheap either. But hey, it's still super cute and colorful and, yes, great for photos! 

- Got dinner and drinks at The Ace. Always fun going there. You can see lots of photos I took there last time I went, here. I would love to stay here one day. 

- Hung out at the always fabulous The Parker Hotel courtesy of our friend Holly! She and Heather stayed there one night, so Katie and I got to hang out with them in their room. You can see lots of photos that I took at The Parker on my last trip, here. Luckily you can always walk the grounds of the Parker and the ACE even if you're not staying there, if you ever want to check it out. But it was fun seeing one of the rooms in person (and swoon over all of the Jonathan Adler pieces!).

Center Photo: Katie, Holly & Heather

From top left, moving around clockwise: 1-4. Inside the room at The Parker // 5. Dressed and ready to explore // 6. The Parker // 7. Rt 62 Vintage Marketplace // 8. Polka-dot tights // 9. Rt 62 Vintage Marketplace // 10. The Parker // 11. shopping! // 12. My panda airplane headrest pillow : )

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- Going thrift and vintage shopping in Palm Springs and Yucca Valley. The Route 62 shop was really cute and there was a great antique mall next door as well. Some really amazing furniture pieces for great prices. If you live nearby, definitely worth a trip! 

- Visiting Pioneertown and eating at Pappy & Harriet's. Heather has been talking up this place for a long time, and it was super fun! More than anything, it gave us an excuse to drive through the desert and really experience the landscape. For this Southern gal, that view still just blows me away. It almost looks like one of those fake old Hollywood backdrops. Just too unreal looking to be real. Pappy & Harriet's was super yummy and apparently a popular destination for fun bands (and lots of hipsters, of course). I'll have more photos from Pioneertown coming soon.

- And last, going on an unplanned visit to Little Tokyo in LA before my flight out on Tuesday. It was definitely a highlight of my trip! If I can't have the real Tokyo, I'll take a little one any day. ; ) SO many cool things to buy and great food to eat. I bought too much and I'll share soon.

Ironically, even though this trip was originally planned to center around Modernism Week, we only did one event and it was a disappointment (a lecture all about Marimekko!). And we bailed on a home tour because we were having too much fun shopping. Ha! But I think that's what made this trip different - it wasn't overly planned, but totally done on the fly. I really needed some time to just relax and have good times and conversation with friends and that's what it was! And since we went in February, the weather was AH-MA-ZING! So, if it weren't for Modernism Week, I wouldn't have thought to go during this time of year. Definitely the perfect time to go hang out in the desert.

instagramin'

Just a little Instagram update! Follow me at Kitschy Digitals if you see anything above that sparks your interest. See that sweet phone up there in the heart? That is my new phone! I'm so excited. It's the Samsung Galaxy s2. It's a huge, huge upgrade from my last phone and it's apparently the rock star of Androids. I just got it today and I can't wait to start playing. The screen is HA-UGE. Most importantly, the quality of my phone pics will be a far cry better than what I had. This makes me so happy because I can now print my pics out! I just saw this on Pinterest this week and I can't wait to try it out.

Does anyone have this phone? Do you like it? Please share!

Tomorrow I'll be getting ready for my big trip to Palm Springs this weekend. I haven't been since 2010 and I've been chomping at the bit ever since. You can see my pics from my last trip here. I will be meeting the same friends that I met up with last time (they live in California - hi Heather & Holly!) along with an online friend, Katie, that lives in LA where I'll be flying into. All four of us will be driving to Palm Springs and staying at the Saguaro (such a colorful place!) It's Modernism Week there and Katie and I will be doing a Frey House Tour and attending the Marimekko Lecture. Very excited! I'll be sure to of course take tons of photos to share when I get back.

Have a great weekend!