Things Elemental | Kathryn Pritchett

March 23 2012

The Prince of the Pleasure Palaces

For the weekend. . .

Check out Jonah Lehrer’s fascinating article in the March 26th issue of The New Yorker about designer Roger Thomas and how his interiors revolutionized Las Vegas casino décor. Lehrer quotes Thomas, who maintains a weekend home here in Northern California, as saying that he doesn’t design interiors based on focus groups, but rather he creates “rooms I want to be in.”

Having traveled to Vegas twice in as many years, I can tell you that Thomas creates rooms I want to be in as well. On our first trip I had the pleasure of staying in the Bellagio and this fall I spent some time exploring the public spaces of the Wynn and Encore resorts—all Thomas projects. Read More »

March 20 2012

Cultivating Beauty

After the full-court press to beautify our home for its first open house this weekend, it was a relief to go play. And by play, I mean stay away from our beautiful house and find amusements elsewhere. We took in some movies (Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, yes!) and traveled across the bay to check out the rotating floral mobiles at the DeYoung that I wrote about here. After enjoying a fine seafood stew in the café, we continued on to the Legion of Honor to see The Cult of Beauty, an exhibit on the British Aesthetic Movement filled with treasures from London’s Victoria and Albert Museum.

The art and artifacts were indeed beautiful. Paintings depicting languid red-haired muses alternated with exquisite pieces of fine furniture. Looking at the auburn-haired girl in Whistler’s Symphony in White No. I: The White Girl, I wondered whether there were an exceptional number of redheads in Victorian England. Otherwise, how did each artist find his own gingery goddess? Read More »

Posted in Shelter | Tagged art, interior design | 1 Response

March 14 2012

Top o’ the Morning

At 6:05 this morning my friend Rosie called to see if I was still willing to meet up for our weekly walk in Mountain View Cemetery. The first real storm of the year was in full force and I knew I could stay in bed with a clear conscience. I was tempted to cancel, but it’s usually so magical early in the morning in that park-like space that I said I was still game.

We parked outside the cemetery gates and took off in the storm, zigzagging up the hill as we commenced our weekly therapy session. But before we reached the top we turned back, soaked to the skin and worried about slipping and falling.

We were almost back to the entrance gate when Rosie interrupted my saga of house-selling bad luck and pointed at a glowing light that moved from one low black tombstone to another.

“What’s going on over there?” she said. “Must be leprechaun lanterns or, better yet, pots of gold!” Read More »

Posted in Spirit | Tagged awe, friendship | Leave a comment

March 12 2012

Jilted

So after a long day of viewing places to rent we got a call from our realtor telling us that our buyers had dropped out. Three weeks into our courtship they were dumping us without warning. Their realtor didn’t leave an explanation in her abrupt email saying they wanted to cancel the contract. But eventually the truth came out that they had made a verbal offer on another property.

All those declarations of love regarding my ruby-red kitchen, the exquisite original molding and the rose-filled garden were for nought. Apparently, an attached two-car garage and closer proximity to the grade school seduced them and, poof, they were gone. Hard not to feel like a jilted bride. Read More »

Posted in Shelter | Tagged house hunting | Leave a comment

March 09 2012

On The Hunt

Look at Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs pyramid and you’ll find “security of property” in the second tier from the bottom, right above food and sleep. When you don’t have a place to live, it’s hard to move into loftier states of being where you worry about solving world hunger or even making lunch dates with friends.

Which must be why I’m having a hard time doing more than eating, sleeping and staring at house listings on Craig’s List. Out of the blue, a buyer came calling and we’re in contract to sell the family home. Read More »

Posted in Shelter | Tagged house hunting | Leave a comment

February 29 2012

Bravo!

Almost every weekend you’re likely to find me at the movies with my husband. Our first date was to see Werner Herzog’s Aguirre: The Wrath of God at our campus’s international cinema. Ah, cinema nerds in love–wunderbar!

Thirty-one years later we’re still splitting a small bag of popcorn and some Red Vines while we take in a big screen release. On Saturday we saw the holocaust movie In Darkness–Poland’s entry for this year’s best foreign film–in preparation for the Academy Awards. Our daughter was home for the weekend to shop for a wedding dress (she’s marrying a cinephile, too!) and tagged along. After two and a half hours watching brave Poles struggle to survive in the sewers of Lvov, she said she was grateful it wasn’t a “scratch and sniff” movie. Agreed.

Speaking of movies–every year I salute my favorite interior design details at the movies. Check the winners out here.

Posted in Spirit | Tagged movies | Leave a comment

January 25 2012

Arms Folded, Heads Bowed

I just finished reading Joanna Brooks’ excellent collection of essays The Book of Mormon Girl. Like Brooks I grew up Mormon but unlike Brooks I’ve stayed an active member throughout my life. Which isn’t to say that I haven’t felt some of the frustrations she describes with the LDS church. It’s an imperfect institution filled with all-too-human individuals, but I am grateful that my spiritual roots are there. And I am inspired and amused by the aspiring saints who gather within the unadorned walls of my LDS meetinghouse.

Brooks is a wonderful writer but she occasionally suffers from the problem I think many of us Mormon-raised writers suffer from—it’s hard not to be incredibly EARNEST when we write.

Posted in Spirit | Tagged books, religion | Leave a comment

January 21 2012

Restock or Reinvent?

Ever since I was a little girl pouring over the Sears catalog* to order school clothes I’ve loved the idea of creating a wardrobe from scratch.

Unlike a friend who lost her home and all her belongings in the Oakland Hills fire (or a cousin who once had most of her wardrobe stolen from a laundromat!), I’ve never had to replace an entire wardrobe. The closest I get to starting over sartorially is putting together a wardrobe for a trip–which is one of my favorite parts of travel. Starting with a few new things and building a perfectly coordinated set of ensembles for Idaho/NYC/Vienna addresses the teency weency streak of perfectionism I carry around. Plus I’ve always liked the idea of reinvention.

Fashion designer Nanette Lepore champions transformation through your closet in an interview with Annette Tapert in today’s WSJ. Tapert asked nine prominent fashion designers what they would do if they had to start all over and create an entire wardrobe for themselves. Read More »

Posted in Style | Tagged fashion | Leave a comment

January 20 2012

Bigfoot Apple Pies

Saturday my friend Pauline showed up with a sack of flour and 10 lbs of apples to make pies for Bigfoot. Yes, you read that right. She was on her way north with a bigtime Bigfoot believer friend to try and spot Sasquatch in his/her native habitat. Of course, getting the Yeti to make an appearance involved luring them with special Bigfoot treats. According to local experts, the Sasquatch prefer apple pies and sausages. Now, Pauline is one of the best pie makers on the planet so if anything could lure a Bigfoot out of hiding, it would be one of Pauline’s pies.

Here they are resting up on my kitchen counter before their journey north.

Posted in Sustenance | Tagged awe, recipes | 2 Responses

January 11 2012

Sunday Supper Soup

Living in the Bay Area, I could shop at a nearby Farmer’s Market or artisanal grocery store daily, but on a cold winter afternoon I’d just as soon forage in my own pantry. Surveying cupboard options this weekend, I figured the butternut squash that arrived in my CSA box before the holiday break would make a good winter soup for a Sunday supper with friends. My husband was actually the designated chef for the day and since he loves nothing more than USING UP WHAT WE ALREADY HAVE this menu made him very happy. And then he found an Alice Waters recipe that not only required the early December squash but also some white beans from the pantry, which had him practically skipping around the kitchen. I returned after a full day of church meetings (just one of those Sundays) to a steaming hot bowl of this. Heaven! Read More »

Posted in Sustenance | Leave a comment