Christal

HBO and the creators of High Maintenance picked a conspicuous date to announce that the fantastic weed-centric web series has been picked up for a six-episode season on the premium cable network. Happy 420! The best show on the internet is coming to your TV.

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Hello Everyone. I was nominated for a Liebster award by Cocktails & Catwalk and Clutter Box.  The Liebster award is for bloggers who have under 200 followers. Since I restarted my blog over again. With my own domain. I had to start all over again with my followers. So there for I have less then 200 followers. 

1. How did you decide on the title of your blog, and what’s it about?

To tell you the truth I didn't put a lot of thought in to my blog name when I made it 4 years ago. I went with Amy in the title. Since that't my name. Since I was going to write about my clothes. I decided to call my blog Amy's Fashion Blog

2. Can you give 11 random facts about yourself?

• I enjoy running
• I have live in Germany for a totally of 2 years now but all in all 4 years.
• I enjoy cooking and baking
• In 4 month I will be turning 30
• I broke my leg in the 1st grade
• I hate being late to things
• I have gone to Paris. More then one time
• I a huge shoe collection
• Summer is my favorite season
• I love the color pink
• I got married when I was 19. 

3. What is something you’ve been loving lately?

I have been loving a lot of things lately. Some thing are music, the weather and reading books. 
4. What is it you love most about blogging?

I love the blogging community. Plus meet new people. 

5. If you had 3 wishes, what would they be?

• That there would be peace in the world
• People won't be able to get sick
• That we cloud be whatever size we want to be and not be judge

6. Where does your blog inspiration come from?

I get my blog inspiration from other blogger, people on the street and from my closet.

7. What is one country in the world you would like to visit? Why?

There a lot of country I want to see. So its hard to just pick one. 

8. If you have kids or pets? Tell me about your babies.

I have a dog name Priscilla. Who lives with my In-laws back in the states.

9. A long-lost relative leaves you a large sum of money. What do you do with it?

I would save it to help my family that in need of the money. 

10. What is something you do when you need to take time for yourself?

I will go on a walk or run. Plus paint my nails and take some me time. 

11. Where do you see yourself in five years time?

In five year I see myself back in the states and growing my family numbers bigger. 

I nominated everyone who has under 200 follower for this award. 

HAVE A GREAT FRIDAY!!

Hey guys! It’s Holly Marder and I’m back again this month to take you through another inspiring interior for my Homes with Heart column. This month, I’m excited to introduce you to Dutch designer Christian Kocx, whose beautiful home in Belgium was the subject behind my lens in late October. Blending the home’s original, classical features with his minimalist sense of style, this home intrigued me from the moment I stepped inside. Let’s take a look around, shall we?

Christian and his partner Isabel Dooms have called this 1925 historic Turnhout, Belgium, property home since they purchased it back in 2007, sharing it with their three children Mathias, Charlotte and Floris. “When we saw the house for the first time we fell in love with the façade, and when we entered the hallway we where blown away by all the details and the character of it all.” The property’s opulent Jugendstill details, are offset by contemporary elements which the couple brought in “to balance the palette”.

“My style is a mix of classical and contemporary details,” explains Christian. “This creates an interesting dialogue in which both get to have an equal say. They strengthen each other and create a balance. Like ying and yang or black and white. By keeping the colour scheme simple, all the attention goes to the architectural details.” The home’s interior employs a minimal colour palette of black, white, grey and touches of brass throughout, with the entryway tiling and accessories in their contemporary loft living room the only hints of colour used. “I like to use colour to the accentuate the detail in my home, and it’s also the element that connects both of the styles,” Christian says. 

The house offered several attractive qualities already, which, though work needed to be done to the property, were a huge selling point. “Thankfully, all the original details were preserved,” Christian says. “We loved the history of it. We added our own contemporary touch with respect for the building.” 

The couple had to replace the roof and at the same time, created a contemporary family loft filled with natural light. “It’s a nice contrast to the dark, historic part of the 1925 home.” In this large and light space featuring exposed wooden beams, a floor to ceiling bookcase fills one side of the room, concealing the television. Not to detract from the architectural details, a contemporary grey sofa and simplistic white sideboard are practical options for this family space. The brass side table by Rijuch and marble topped side table by Zuiver echo the opulence seen throughout the rest of the house. Cushions by Hay and Ferm Living add a dash of colour. The side chair is by Peli Design, with a home made cushion from Ikea fabric. 

The entrance of the four-story house features original Jugendstill tiling in a muted colour palette, offering the only spattering of colour seen in the lower part of the house. The hallway is in fact one of the couple’s favourite parts of their home, alongside the lofty attic upstairs. They have offset the home’s classical features with a contemporary white console and a large antique chandelier which once belonged to Isabel’s parents. He rescued it from the attic and it now serves as an eye-catching object in their home’s entryway.

Furnishing their home has been an organic process that both Isabel and Christian have enjoyed. “By taking time to find just the right pieces of furniture and accessories, one item is added now and again creating a ‘new’ interior every time,” Christian says. “I can find so much joy in finding just that right piece to complete our interior. The most important is creating a home filled with objects the whole family can enjoy!” 

For his period home, Christian has also created several items of furniture himself that form the basis of their contemporary classic aesthetic. The dining table was his own creation, a clean lined modern piece flanking a classical marble fireplace and antique writing desk. His highly modern table and chair set allows the centuries-old antiques to take centre stage, whilst offering the larger space striking contrast.

Christian, a graduate from The Design Academy Eindhoven also designs a range of interior accessories with his label Mooi Goed. “I designed the Mooi Goed collection with the thought that I would like to have it in my own interior. The collection is, just like my interior, a mix of contemporary and classical details.” His minimalistic candle holders adorn the classical fireplace, amid ornate antique brass mirrors and marble, creating the contrast that Christian loves.

With a keen eye for design and a penchant for historical styles, a family friendly abode however is at the top of his agenda. “The most important is creating something the whole family loves living in. Practical and pretty. I can say that’s not always simple, but when I get it right I can enjoy it twice as much!”

I hope you guys enjoyed this peek inside this truly beautiful home. I wish you all a prosperous 2015! Looking forward to taking you through more lovely interiors this year here on decor8! – Holly

(Photography and Text by Holly Marder / Food styling: Ajda Mehmet)

The little girl in me that wanted to be Snow White and or Cinderella, is just as happy as the teenage me that spent countless hours reading fashion magazines… but you know what I love the most? That all of this is painted! At first pass, I thought these were fashion photographs that had been painted over with cartoonie bits, but nope, all of these images are oil and acrylic on linen. Yep, I absolutely love that El Salvador based artist Luis Cornejo basically defaced his own perfect paintings by adding Micky Mouse hands and Pokemon hats! So clever, and so well done.

Good morning! We're a little late going today, please excuse the delay. Let's get started with "Chandelier," which has been a perfect song with a perfect video for a few months now, and which the Swedish singer-songwriter is still performing via proxy. Maybe at some point Sia will have to find an alternative to her alternative approach to performance, but for now she's got Lena Dunham in a blond wig. Elsewhere: the Sam Smith album is streaming at NPR, and Nicki Minaj released a video for her new single, "Pills N Potions."

Previously: The Huge Mistake Pie

Ann Friedman owns three Steely albums on vinyl, which is really the only way to hear them.

Everyone's favorite smoke-monster-polar-bear-what-even-is-this television-show may be getting a reboot, if you choose to believe stray comments from some of its producers.

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Remember Hairpin pal Lauren Hallden's online dating loren ipsum text generator? ("Glass half-full using my farmshare. Netflix my eyes Woody Allen stepping outside your comfort zone, if you're still reading this medical school happy hour too many to list tattoos. I'm just a regular guy I enjoy making lasagna from scratch pickles fascinates me.") Now she's gone and done it again with trendy cocktail bars: the first ones I got were "Pistol & Hoof," "Bull & Hatchet" and "Brim & Crumble." Story checks out! [Name My Bar]

This is part of a week-long series celebrating the 45th birthdays of characters from Romy and Michele's High School Reunion.

Christy filed for divorce from Billy two weeks after the reunion. She had been considering it for some time, but his actions that night were so public, so damaging to their reputation that she felt the time had come to end it for good. She got the house and the kids. He walked away with one of the cars and drove it off to god knows where. No one’s seen him since he sped onto I-10. Most people think he’s long dead, but most of them wouldn’t say that outside their own homes.

Christy had to find work, but her life’s tragic turn led plenty of people in town to make her sympathy offers. She settled on a job in the courthouse that came with good pay, low stress, and the bucket o’ benefits typical of a government job. Even day care was affordable, so the kids had a place to be while she was making calls and ironing out schedules and listening to people complain to her about things she had no way of fixing. Christy Masters Christianson was suddenly Christy Masters again. But that old name now belonged to someone entirely different.

A lot of people in Tucson begin stories about The New Christy Masters with, “They say people don’t really change, but.”

“…but Christy Masters proved them wrong.”

“…but Christy Masters changed for her children.”

“…but Christy Masters became a saint after that sack of shit left town.”

And all of them are right.

She started volunteering. She made new friends. She hosted parties and invited people from all over town. She attended every parent-teacher conference. She spoke her mind at city council meetings. She donated blood every month – sometimes plasma, too! She even adopted old dogs from the shelter instead of buying a puppy. The woman was a saint.

Plenty of men were attracted to The New Christy Masters, but she turned down all their advances. “I want time to myself,” she’d tell them. “I want it to be me and the kids for a while.” How could they persist after a reason like that?

Yes, The New Christy Masters did seem perfect, but despite her front-facing brightness she still felt regret over some of her actions from long ago. The way she treated a very particular pair of girls. Two of her peers. Two girls named Romy and Michele. “What can I do?” she’d often think at night. “How can I apologize to them in a way that feels sincere? In a way that will make up for my terrible treatment?”

So one day she began writing a letter. Each night she spent half an hour on it. Deleting and adding things here and there. Explaining her childhood. Her relationship with her parents. Her relationship with her siblings. Her relationship with Billy. It was a form of therapy for her – a way of not just unloading, but discovering. Figuring out why she did what she did. Not to make excuses for it all, but to make sense of it all. It was long and it was heartfelt, and by the end it was 75 pages in 12-point font. Single spaced. She read it over one more time, hit 'PRINT,' and threw it in a big envelope. As she applied the postage, a deep unhappiness inside her was suddenly lifted. She felt better. She felt reborn.

When Romy received the package and noticed the return address, she immediately called Michele. The two met up at a cafe in Venice Beach to open it together.

“What do you think it is?” Romy asked as they shared a plate of fries.

“A bomb?” said Michele.

They laughed and ate a few more fries.

“Well, should we open it?”

“You know, I kind of don’t want to. Is that bad?”

Romy released a loud sigh. “Oh my god, Michele. I was hoping you’d say that. Like to be quite honest, I just want to throw this in the ocean and never think about it again.”

“Ooooh, fun! Let’s go throw it in the ocean! Like, a message in a bottle, but without a bottle, or even a message!”

"Exactly like that."

So Romy and Michele finished their fries, paid the bill, and threw The New Christy Masters’ letter into the Pacific Ocean. Later that day they saw Gravity. They loved Gravity so much.

People in the Midwest/on the East Coast: 

Me in California:

My friend lives in suburban San Diego and he is not a fan. He lives here due to fairly random circumstances, which anyone who ended up without a chair when the music stopped during the recession might understand.

He’s been here for more than four years and likes it no more today than the day he arrived. But he has come up with a plan for dealing with this. “I call it the I don’t give a shit plan,” he explains, as we make a left off of West San Marcos Boulevard into the Albertsons parking lot. “Oh, see, there’s a guy on the side of the road that needs help. But you know what. I live in Southern California now, so I don’t give a shit.” He pulls his used BMW into a parking space. “Oh, there’s Yogurt World,” he observes. “They have Wi-Fi. Isn’t that wonderful? Isn’t that just so incredibly generous of them? If you worked in a an office around here, as a cost cutting measure you could just get rid of your Wi-Fi, and you’d be like, ‘Hey, guys, if anyone wants to talk to me, I’m just over at Yogurt World.’ Oh, and if you want to know how much I really don’t give a shit, you see the Supercuts, over there next to the Yogurt World? That’s where I get my hair cut now.”

Albertsons is empty. His wife has instructed him to get fruit. He throws a bag of oranges into the cart. “Fruit,” he says. He also needs razors. “16 dollars,” he exclaims. “How stupid do these people think we are? They must think we’re so stupid that we’re willing to work our asses off to live in hell and spend all our money on razors. Well. They are lucky because… because why?”

“Because you don’t give a shit?” I guess.

“That is correct,” he says, adding the razors to the cart. He finds generic contact lens solution. “Three dollars,” he says. “I feel good about that. Today is a good day.”

He’s also supposed to get long lighters to light the fake fireplace in his rather enormous den. “Five-fifty!” he exclaims. “Ok guys, that’s pushing it. Not on board.” After paying for everything with a $25 Albertsons gift certificate he got from his work  “to get a turkey or something” he sits in his car looking up dollar stores on his iPhone. “There is one, but it’s kind of far from here. Oh, wait, I almost forgot. I don’t give a shit.”

On the way, he gives a tour of the town of San Marcos. “There’s a pile of dirt,” he says, pointing to a pile of dirt. “There’s a restaurant I wouldn’t go to if I was dying.  See that place? It looks like 14 million people could get their car fixed there at once, doesn’t it?  But I don’t know what really goes on there. Oh, here is the high school. Look at that enormous football stadium. My tax dollars at work. I also pay some insanely high tax to our developer, so we can have signs that say stuff like 'Los Arboles' and 'Rancho Lindo,' just in case for a second I thought I actually lived in a real place. Oh, there’s the guy who fixes my car. He’s a good guy. That’s probably the best thing about this place. I found a guy to fix my car who’s not a liar. Oh. There’s a Home Depot. That’s a great place to get nails, if you were interested, just for example, in nailing yourself to a wall.” We drive past Mrs. Taco. “I feel like I should tell Mrs. Taco that Mr. Taco is cheating on her with Princess Pho,” he says. “But, at the end of the day… well. I think it goes without saying.”

The Dollar Store has long lighters for $3.50. “Awesome,” he says. “This is a great day.” Near the register there are other long lighters for $1.99, but he wants to stick with the ones he found. “These are BIC. They will last longer. I might be the cheapest person alive, but I also don’t want to spend all my time driving around buying lighters. Because that would take away from driving around buying other things, the activity which is the very heart and soul of my plan.”

Photo via Tricia/flickr

Sarah Miller is the author of Inside the Mind of Gideon Rayburn and The Other Girl. She lives in Nevada City, CA. Follow her on Twitter @sarahlovescali.

Almost four years after Brittany Murphy was found dead in her Hollywood home of natural causes, new details are pointing to the fact that the Clueless star may have been murdered instead. The Examiner reports that toxicology testing was finally done on Murphy's hair, blood and tissue samples, and presented 10 heavy metals that were all present in quantities well above the World Health Organization's high exposure level.

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