A Temporary Nest in 'The Birds' for Lovebirds Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux

Rom-com queen and former sit-com star Jennifer Aniston (Friends, Horrible Bosses, Marley & Me) may have only snatched brooding screenwriter/actor Justin Theroux (I Shot Andy Warhol, American Psycho, Tropic Thunder, John Adams) from a 14-year relationship a few short months ago but their high-profile and much chronicled romance zoomed from 0-60 faster than it takes water to boil.



Almost immediately after hooking up the very quickly smitten kittens were spotted looking for a house to buy in some of the better zip codes in Los Angeles. Your Mama–dontcha know?–has specific knowledge of two high-priced pads the pair peeped. Not finding the perfect property to buy, the now constant companions reportedly opted to lease a (temporary) love nest in a celebrity-chocked neighborhood high above the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles, CA known as 'The Birds.' The 'hood, home to Hollywood types like Leo DiCaprio, Keanu Reeves, Megan Mullally, and Jodie Foster, is often referred to as 'The Birds' due to all the streets being named after–you got it–birds.



A well-informed tattletale we'll call Ben Theredonethat pointed Your Mama's limited attentions to the couple's new crib, a very modestly-sized if still quite pricey pad last on the market with a rental price tag of $20,000 per month. Property records show the well-located but discreet digs were purchased by the current owners, a screenwriter husband and a location scout wife from a prominent New York family, in January 2007 for $3,050,000.



Listing information Your Mama managed to squeeze out of the interweb shows the high-hedged, electronically-gated, and recently-renovated ranch-style residence measures 1,761 square feet and includes just 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms plus a 2-car garage converted into a den/office with pitched ceiling and an entire wall lined with built-in book and display shelves.



The main living/dining room has a high vaulted ceiling with exposed beams, peg-and-groove wood floors of various widths, a wood-burning fireplace flanked by built-in book cases, and a trio of French doors that open the long room the to small limestone terrace that surrounds the wee plunge pool and attached spa.



The random-width wood floors continue into the adjacent eat-in kitchen that has a faint but detectable vibe of a French bistro and includes dark taupe cabinets topped by grey-veined white marble counter tops, white subway tile back splashes, high-grade stainless steel appliances and open shelves on either side of the window over the sink where the daily dishes are on display.



The guest bedroom offers a pitched ceiling, brick fireplace, walls covered in what looks like burlap or some sort of linen, and simple but adequate bathing and terliting facility with glass-enclosed shower stall and wood floors. The master bedroom, considerably larger than the second bedroom but still quite cozy features a peaked ceiling with exposed beams and an attached bathroom with double sinks and marble-lined tub/shower. Two sets of French doors open the bedroom to the pool deck and bathmat-sized patch of grass that gives way to a lounging terrace protected for privacy by a thick and tall hedge.



In addition to the plunge pool, spa and surrounding sunbathing terrace with canyon view, the small backyard includes a number of other patios and decks for lounging, dining and entertaining.



Interestingly, but not surprisingly given the rather unusual real estate ways of the rich and famous, the leased house sits just a half mile from another modest house at the top of the Bird Streets that Miz Aniston has owned since January 1993 when she shelled out $751,000 for the 2 bedroom and 3 bathroom ranch-style residence. One would be a fool not to wonder why Miz Aniston and Mister Theroux didn't just move into that house but such are the inexplicable ways of the rich and famous.



In late June (2011) Miz Aniston sold Ohana, her approximately 10,000 square foot newly renovated mansion in Beverly Hills, for $35,000,000. All research and signs point to the buyer of Ohana as Bill Gross, a freakishly wealthy Orange County (CA) mutual fund manager.



Prior to that, in April 2011, Miz Aniston dropped a titanic total of $7,019,000 for two itty-bitty apartments, one on top of the other, in an imposing, desirable and very expensive pre-war building in New York City's hyper-gentrified West Village. Miz Aniston paid $2,069,000 for the lower unit, a 1 bedroom and 1 bathroom with 3 closets, a tiny kitchen and wood-burning fireplace in the step down living room. The apartment was last priced at $1,800,000, which means Miz Aniston wanted it so badly she paid $209,000 over the asking price. The upstairs unit, a petit penthouse owned by sensationally successful hair cutter Sally Hershberger, cost Miz Aniston a whopping $4,950,000. While no larger than the downstairs unit, the puny penthouse has almost as much space outdoors from the wide terrace that wraps around three sides of the apartment and offers thrilling city views to the south, west and north to the Empire State Building and–even better–the Chrysler Building.



Presumably, as per previous reports, Miz Aniston intends to combine the two tiny units into one still quite cozily scaled duplex penthouse that will encompass fewer than 2,000 square feet of interior space.



The astronomical sale, purchase and rental prices of Miz Aniston's recent real estate activities boggle Your Mama's boozy brain into a state of torpid bewilderment. However, puppies, we can still find and muster the a very real appreciation of Miz Aniston's new-found self-recognition that bigger and fancier is not necessarily better when it comes to real estate even if one's bank account balloons impressively with a sizable showbiz fortune like hers, usually estimated to be well in excess of $100,000,000.



listing photos: Coldwell Banker / Hancock Park North via LA Life

artists who blog in Vienna: Patricia Vincent

Designer Patricia Vincent is another creative spirit I was lucky enough to meet while in Vienna. I felt Patricia's warmth and charm immediately when I met her at her beautiful studio in the suburb of Sievering in Vienna. 

Patricia showed me around her lovely studio - well stocked with handmade, unique clothing and accessories for women that she makes individually using natural materials like silk, cotton, and leather. She told me that it is very important to her to use the very best quality materials in all of her designs.

Patricia just moved into her studio about 15 months ago after working for 4 years in a shared studio near the MuseumsQuartier in Vienna. She is very happy to have much more space and natural light now. If you are in Vienna and would like to see her designs, you can visit her at  Sieveringer Str. 18/4. Although Patricia is usually there working long hours, it is best to call ahead or email to make an appointment. Contact information is available here on Patricia's portfolio website.

Her bags are all so lovely - how can one choose? I am happy to say that I now own one of Patricia's bags, and I love it. I'm carrying it with me on every trip of my 12 Countries project! Each extremely well made bag is one-of-a-kind and is made using a different combination of materials and colors. You can find a big collection of her bags online in her new Etsy shop here.

Patricia told me that the inspiration for her pieces comes from watching people and films and thinking about what she would like to wear personally. She wants her bags to be "practical, yet eye-catching" and describes her style as "understated and feminine." She makes every piece herself by hand - from the patterns and design to the cutting, sewing, and stitching.

Yet Patricia's path was not always an easy one. Patricia grew up during the Ceausescu dictatorship in Romania. As the daughter of a Ukranian mother and Nigerian father, Patricia and her twin sister suffered extreme discrimination because of their mixed racial background during the regime. 

Patricia's mother even lost her job as a teacher and Patricia and her family were victims of violent racially motivated attacks during the dictatorship. However, her mother was very strong and Patricia says. "She was a fighter and this is what I took from her, the spirit of justice."

After the dictatorship, conditions improved dramatically for the family. Patricia's mother regained her teaching position and Patricia went to an prestigious high school and later studied Business Management in Bucharest.

However, a trip to Vienna in 2002 changed everything. Patricia fell in love with the city, and she is now very happy to call Vienna her home. She told me, "Vienna is peaceful, green, the air is fresh, the streets are clean, the architecture is very beautiful and individual, and each district has a special atmosphere." She went on to say that she feels, "Women are very respected here and Vienna gives me the freedom to be creative."

Patricia has started a wonderful new blog called Seams and Chronicles, where she shares more about her fascinating life story as well as her creative work process.

She writes, "My profession is one of the best things in my life and I feel so blessed having the opportunity to discover and start to love it at a relatively early age. My love and passion for it gives me strength, confidence... and nobody can take it away."

Thank you Patricia for sharing with us! I know your new Etsy shop and blog are going to be a success!

xoxo

Stephanie

Christina Aguilera Takes It on the Real Estate Chin

SELLER: Christina Aguilera

LOCATION: Los Angeles, CA

PRICE: $4,653,815 (sale)

SIZE: 6,500-ish square feet, 4 bedrooms, 7 bathrooms



YOUR MAMAS NOTES: It may have taken more than three years and a handful of heavy-duty price chops but recently divorced pop music super star turned reality tee-vee singing contest judge Christina Aguilera has finally sold her former bachelorette pad high above the Sunset Strip. A kindly snitch we'll call Nathaniel Needsyoutoknow quietly informed Your Mama the sleek contemporary recently went for the dizzyingly complicated price of $4,653,815.



Miz Aguilera purchased the 4 bedroom and 7 crapper crib in the Bird Streets 'hood back in April 2003 for an even-Steven $5,000,000. A few quick flicks of the well-worn beads on Your Mama's bejeweled abacus reveals the dirrty girl's designer pocketbook and real estate ego took a $346,185 hit on the property not counting the fat real estate fees that easily ran in excess of $150,000. Certainly Miz Aguilera can safely weather a half million dollar financial storm but still, let's be honest pets, it's never a good day to lose half a million bucks even if you're a money-making showbiz machine like Miz Aguilera.



Celebrity real estate watchers and Xtina fans the world over already the highly stylized and sometimes misbehaved divorcée has been trying to off-load this property since April 2008 when she first hoisted the Steve-Hermann-designed house on the open market with an asking price of $7,995,000.



Listing information shows the many-angled modern manse weighs in at more than 6,500 square feet of interior space with vast banks of floor-to-ceiling glass that powerfully reveal the seductive and unobstructed city views that go for as far as the eye can see and the smog allows. A built in sofa in the sunken living area curls around a futuristic fireplace with trapezoidal stainless steel chimney breast. Boozers and liquor lovers like Your Mama will appreciate the L-shaped built-in bar–the kind with actual bar stools–tucked into an architecturally dramatic corner of the main living/entertaining area. Terrazzo floors run under foot, glass sliders open the room up to the outdoors, and up above a vaulted wood beamed ceiling pierced by sky lights and a long row of clerestory windows entices ambient light into the airy area.



A more intimate living area–a den or a family room, if y'all will allow us to call it that–has glossy wood floors, massive pitched sky lights and a full wall of floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors that look out to a sliver of a patio and a brutalizing stacked stone wall that–in pictures–induces a discomforting kind of real estate claustrophobia in Your Mama.



Special celebrity style amenities of the low profile two-story post and beam pad include a massive master suite with two fireplaces and super-sized custom-fitted closet, a fitness/massage room with mirrored walls and naughty cherry red floor, professional screening room with built-in bar and seating for at least 15 movie goers, and–natch–a recording studio.



Many of the mansion's main rooms open to the wide stone terrace and deck that runs the full length of the house and features and outdoor fireplace. Although there's probably too little room to put a pooch through its proper exercise paces, there's plenty of space for more human activities such as sunbathing, eating, sitting around a fire pit, taking in the glitzy carpet of lights that stretch out below the house, and hanging out in an amorphous swinger-friendly 12-seat spa.



Miz Aguilera married music industry executive Jordan Bratman in the fall of 2005 and it wasn't long before she turned up with a bun in her oven. As is often the case with rich and famous folks, a new baby meant the L.A.-based parents to be needed a new mansion in which to bring up baby.



After a peep and poke around a number of high-priced pads in some of Tinseltown's most expensive zip codes, the then-happy couple settled on a 6 bedroom and 9 bathroom Beverly Hills mansion owned by Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne. Property records and previous reports show the couple shelled out $11,500,000 for the walled and gated estate where a daily parade of buses and vans loaded with camera wielding tourists and super-fans roll slowly by hopin' and prayin' they''ll–what?–catch a glimpse of Miz Aguilera decked out in a bespangled halter top, Brian Atwood pumps and a face-full of make-up pushing the mower, clipping the hedges or backing out of the driveway?.



In March 2011, six or so months after it was revealed that Miz Aguilera and and Mister Bratman planned to part ways and dissolve their 5 year marriage, they quietly pushed their decadently decorated Mediterranean mansion in Bev Hills estate on the market with an asking price of $13,500,000. The 10,000 square foot pile remains listed at the same number.



In classic celebrity fashion Miz Aguilera took up with another man–a smirky production assistant named Matt Rutler–very shortly her split with Mister Bratman. There's talk and gossip that Miz Aguilera wants to make her rebound romance with Mister Rutler legal in the eyes of God and government but the Gossip Cop says the marriage scuttlebutt aint' nuthin' but "entirely false."



Your Mama, who doesn't know a pig pen from an ink pen, has no idea what Miz Aguilera's romantic plans my or may not be as regards to Mister Rutler. We do know that with one mansion sold and another on the market the fast-living single mommy needs a new place to live so we fully expect the platinum blond bomb shell will be back in the celebrity real estate headlines before Your Mama can work our way through this elephantine bottle of gin the Dr. Cooter brought home from Costco last week.



listing photos: Hilton & Hyland

The Making of a Page

Just because a sketch is made in the spring doesn't mean the page gets finished then :)  I got caught up in some research about May Day...

There was a lot of room left on the paper when I finished my plein air pen and watercolor sketch. And, since it was May Day and the sketch of Sparkleberry... Well you know, just that tree's name on my tongue makes calligraphic notes sing in my head! I decided to settle into a more controlled environment to finish the dressing on this May Day page.

A tissue paper overlay is a great way to experiment with the placement of other elements you want to add to your page. It keeps the paper from being compromised from too much erasing.

The trick is matching the same placement that you like on the overlay. There are transfer papers you can use, or you can flip over the overlay and trace what's on the front side using a very soft pencil. Once finished, flip it back to the original side,lay it over your journal page and retrace your original lines with a sharp pencil. Lift the overlay tissue off of your journal page and your lettering will/should be on the paper beneath.


But, I know from experience that I lose total spontaneity when I use these methods. My lines become stiff as I get caught up in left brain control. I honor my free flowing plein air sketch too much to let that happen. I want all the elements to compliment that freedom. So I guess-ti-mate :)

My version of cooking without a recipe :)

Click on images to enlarge :)

Sunflower batik

You need:

1. white drawing sheet A4 size


2. oil pastels


3. pencil


4. tempera paint brown or black


5. liquid soap


6. brushes

Draw some sunflowers on the sheet and on the edges. Colour them with oilpastels, press heavily. Wrinkle the sheet into a ball; make sure the picture is on the inside.

Smooth the paper out. Use black or brown tempera with a tiny bit of liquid handsoap, and paint over the entire paper.

Then rinse the paper under cool water. The paint sticks in the little crinkle wrinkles giving it that batik look.

Leave the work to dry and press it flat between two books.

Made by students of grade 4

Your Mama Hears...

...from the Malibu Candyman that bushy bearded and frequently barefooted music super-producer/guru Rick Rubin has just dropped $2,000,000 on the world-renowned and much-beloved Shangri La music studio, nestled into the rustic rolling hills just above Zuma Beach in Malibu, CA.



Mister Rubin, a much in demand and shockingly prolific producer who does not actually know how to read music or operate a sound board, is the co-founder of Def Jam Records–now owned by Universal Music Group–and the current co-president of Columbia Records. The zen-ed out music mogul has worked with a long list of music industry super luminaries who include (but are far from limited to) Johnny Cash, Beastie Boys, Aerosmith, Neil Diamond, The Gossip, Dixie Chicks, Rage Against the Machine, Mick Jagger and the soo-blime Avett Brothers.



The prosaic ranch style main residence at Shangri La was built in the late 1950s by actress/dancer wife Margo, a niece of the late-great Spanish bandleader Xavier Cugat and the long-time wife of two-time Oscar-nominated actor Eddie Albert. According to the recording studio's website the property became an "upscale bordello" that was "rumored to have hosted the Hollywood elite of the 1950's." In the 1960s the tee-vee program Mister Ed was filmed on the property and Mister Ed the horse was stabled on the property.



The property was purchased and converted to a recording studio and rock and roll refuge in the late 1970s by audio engineer and music producer Rob Fraboni. A virtual parade of rock and roll icons and legends flocked to and recorded at the low-key property including Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan (who apparently spent some time living in a tent in the rose garden), Joe Cocker, Bonnie Raitt, Ringo Starr, and Crosby Stills & Nash.



Although property records Your Mama peeped indicate Mister Chaney actually bought the ocean view property in October of 2006 for $2,125,000, most reports indicate the property was acquired in the early Noughts by Blaine "Beej" Chaney, singer/gee-tarist for the 1980s New Wave band The Suburbs and the former hubby of low-profile Cargill heiress Sarah MacMillan. Make of that what y'all will. Mister Chaney continued with the property's rock and roll recording history and in recent years Adele, Kings of Leon, Metallica and the Red Hot Chili Peppers have recorded albums at Shangri La. Since Mister Rubin has worked with all four of those artists and bands , one can safely presume, he's intimately familiar with Shangri La.



Although Mister Chaney married into one of the wealthiest families in America, records Your Mama dug up out of the interweb show foreclosure proceedings were initiated on Shangri La in the fall of 2010 and a Notice of Sale was filed in late December with an auction date set for January 13, 2011. It's not clear to Your Mama if the property was sold out of foreclosure or if Mister Chaney managed to stave off that beast. What we do know is that in May 2011 Mister Chaney pushed the property on the market with an asking price of $4,100,000. Within weeks the price tag had been slashed dramatically to $3,195,000.



Listing information shows the 1.73 acre spread has a main house that measures 4,449 square feet with 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms plus a detached guest house. While much of the house is devoted to music making and recording listing information indicates there's a dining room, game room with pool table and built in bar, office, and an eat-in country kitchen. The recording facilities include both state of the art and analog recording abilities with one of the recording studios located in an Airstream trailer with ocean view parked on the property.



We're not exactly sure to where Mister Chaney decamped. Property records show he and his heiress ex-wife Sarah MacMillan own four contiguous ocean front parcels in Malibu where they custom-built a sizable compound. Of course, just to be clear, Your Mama don't know a lug nut from a wing nut so we can't say with any authority whatsoever whether Mister Chaney and/or Miz MacMillan currently reside at the beach front compound.



Mister Rubin has owned property in Malibu since at least 2005 when he paid $4,762,500 for a 4,281 square foot mock-Tudor style residence perched privately on a flat promontory above Point Dume's Westward Beach, about 1.5 miles from Shangri La.



As far as we know, based on our perusal of property records and other online resources, Mister Rubin continues to own two additional historic estates in Los Angeles. In late 1992 the Buddha-like Svengali producer shelled out $2,045,000 for a gated estate just above the Sunset Strip that includes a 9,268 square foot Mediterranean mansion built in 1924. The Malibu Candyman told Your Mama that the estate was once owned by horror movie actor Lon Chaney and that Mister Rubin outbid Madonna for this imposing manse but Your Mama has no specific or personal knowledge of such an occurrence.



A couple years after buying the house Madonna (allegedly) wanted Mister Rubin spent a comparatively paltry $785,000 for an nearby estate in Laurel Canyon with a long and legendary Hollywood provenance. Some online reports suggest that master illusionist Harry Houdini bunked on the property for a short period of time in the early/mid 1920s. However, there seems to be some question about whether Mister Houdini actually lived in Mister Rubin's house/studio, occupied another nearby house or if he ever lived in Laural Canyon at all. We suspect the mystery of he whereabouts would please him. Anyhoo, according to the fine folks at The Movieland Directory, the Mediterranean mansion was rented in the late twenties and early 1930s by Mister Houdini's widow Beatrice (Bessie). The property was later owned or rented, also as per The Movieland Directory, by a slew of Tinseltown pooh-bahs like Errol Flynn, W.C. Fields, and Jimi Hendrix as well as underworld entrepreneur Bugsy Siegel who



Various earlier reports stated that Mister Chaney wanted Shangri La sold to someone who would respect and carry the property's deep and wide rock and roll history into the future. Mister Rubin's acquisition ensures that not only will Shangri La continue to host music industry icons for years to come but also that it will retain its decidedly un-fancy down home charms that have drawn music industry legends (and legends in the making) for decades.



listing photos: Sotheby's International Realty

artists who blog in Vienna: Valerie Tonus & Ally Michelle

My first artist interview in Vienna was with Valerie Tonus, a warm and wonderful creative spirit from California who has lived abroad for many years and truly seen the world. I knew I wanted Valerie to be a part of this project after I saw her colorful work and read her profile description on Etsy:

"I live in the land of Klimt, Schiele, and Hundertwasser - Vienna, Austria. This is a place of gilded cupolas, florid patterns, and textures so delicious that you want to eat them.

I experiment with shapes - cubist bags, round spiral baskets, diagonal strips - and color relationships - triads of reds, blues and yellows, and tetrads of yellow-orange, red, blue-purple, and green. 

I have an earthy bohemian side. I am a traveler. Each place I have lived has shaped my senses."

Isn't that wonderful?!

Valerie was very enthusiastic about my art + travel project and suggested that we meet at the Kunst Haus Wien designed by the artist Hundertwasser.

This is a front view of Kunst Haus Wien. In the back, there is a lovely garden cafe. After a challenging first morning in Vienna that you can read about here, I was very happy to meet Valerie and her artist friend, Ally Michelle, who was also in Vienna for a visit. Ally Michelle has recently opened an Etsy shop recently featuring her handmade sea glass jewelry. Click here to see more of her unique designs.

Valerie brought along many of her beautiful, hand-coiled cloth bowls and even shared her process. She told me that her sister who quilts got her started using textiles to create art.

"Making the coils for the bowls is a lot like using clay," Valerie said. "Forming the shapes is an organic process. It is somewhat similar to gardening - the result is always different from what you expect."

Valerie has lived in Vienna for the past three years, and has especially enjoyed the beautiful Jugendstil architecture, museums, rich culture, and the public transportation that makes it so easy to get around.

She finds the ornamental, coiled designs in Klimt's work a particular inspiration for the designs on her bowls. "Did you ever notice the beautiful textures in the women's dresses in Klimt's paintings?"

Valerie has been lucky enough to find an international artist's group in Vienna that meets every Friday afternoon to work together and exchange ideas. Her description of the group sounded so open and friendly, it makes me wish I could attend their meetings too.

She demonstrated for me the time intensive wrapping technique of making the coils before she stitches the bowls together. Each bowl is handmade and one-of-a-kind.

Her use of color is mostly intuitive, but sometimes she experiments with new color families using a color wheel. Valerie has experimented using various types of fabrics, ranging from extra strips from her sister's quilting projects to recycled materials.

More recently, she has been using stamps to create her own fabric designs which could then be incorporated into additional textile projects.

Valerie sells her work in shops and markets in Vienna, as well as online through her Etsy shop. She told me that she first found out about Etsy through an alternative website called Rat Race Rebellion. After working for many years in corporate management training, she is happy to be celebrating her creative voice. Valerie has her own blog and is "inspired and motivated by the many creative people expressing themselves now on the Internet." I couldn't agree more.

Ally Michelle added wisely, "Finally more and more people are out there following and marketing their passions - it is so much better than people doing jobs that they don't like."

Ally went on to say: "Every single person in this world has a story to tell, and they should tell it by all means. Blogging has returned the voice to the people - it is a big crowd, but everyone can speak."

At the close of our lively conversation together, Valerie shared a quote from Hundertwasser that she finds particularly inspiring, "Our real illiteracy is our inability to create."

See a charming collection of Valerie's lovely handmade bowls and bags in her online shop and be sure to visit her blog for wonderful recipes, tutorials, and a closer look at her creative process. You can also visit Ally Michelle at her urban gardening blog here.

Thank you Valerie and Ally Michelle for your time and encouragement! I hope we will meet again!

xo

Stephanie