love song

"are you looking for me? you will not find me in the stupas, nor the shrines, nor in temples or mosques. you will find me in the tiniest house of time
i am the breath inside the breath"

-kabir, 15th century. varanasi

dreaming in blue

christmas is swiftly approaching and all i can think about is a magical wedding day and registering for the new nest....

the dress


the jewels


the collectibles

salk institute

the most important architectural landmark in san diego and most beautiful place in la jolla

all glass works by dale chihuly

bejeweled

if mineral forest designed jewelry (which it should), this is what it would look like. unfortunately for me, but bravo to these amazing designers who are representing the true nature and spirit of gem stones in their raw form and creating awareness about the energetic properties while they're at it!

sonya ooten gem bar in larchmont village is my heaven on earth:




stilbite ring


apophyllite cluster ring


aphrodite aquamarine and multi-chain bracelet


aphrodite rose quartz multi-chain necklace


pave champagne diamond bead with matte black onyx on cord


kindred stones is an up and coming designer on the l.a. scene:

season of miracles

today is the autumnal equinox. my favorite time of year is upon us again, bye bye summer. but i have to say, I sometimes almost catch myself feeling a little jipped that i never got my fill of hot summer nights and sea breeze days at the beach in sunny california. actually, who cares? despite the fact that the season whizzed by before I could blink and that it was probably the most unseasonably cool summer, i have to say it was a god-sent and i am not complaining by any means. my worst fear having moved to the cottage with all of my stuff stored in the shed was that the 100 degree + days would destroy and melt everything i have in there. so the overcast and cool days we had were actually a miracle.


another miracle was that my sister Joana finally finished her training in Seattle and is now ready to launch into the work force full-fledged and harvest what she has sewn for 17 years. we celebrated together on a trip up to the San Juan Islands and the Olympic Peninsula, totally magical and breathtaking vistas at what seemed like the edge of the universe. and so i got my sunshiny summer days in washington state, go figure.















but the grandest miracle of all this summer was the miracle of LOVE that has entered my life. and this time, it's for good. my prayers have been answered and i am blissfully content knowing that my path is unfolding in all the right ways.





i am bubbling up with excitement for what this fall has in store. the creative juices have been percolating and are soon ready to overflow onto the scene! thank god for miracles and the magic they bring. happy fall.

the yoga of letting go

life is a miracle. ever since i moved, i have been confronted with nature and its ways head on and it has given me a new perspective, like through the eyes of a child discovering something for the very first time. it is no coincidence that i made my way to summer solstice the week before i moved. honestly, the last thing on my mind was gearing up for a full blown camping expedition in the high desert in new mexico, but naturally, the major lesson that unfolded for me there was the yoga and meditation all week long. and i'm not just talking about sitting on a sheep skin under a huge tent holding mudras and chanting mantras for several hours in a row. i am talking about the meditation of having to weather the elements, get down and dirty pitching a tent, being ok with the dirt and dust constantly blowing into every crevice and crack, carrying all of my toiletries to and from the showers via the porta-potties and keeping everything held in tact, warding off insects and creepy crawlies from the tent at night - to name a few. it literally makes you slow down and feel and experience this earth and what it means to be human.







so i get back from new mexico and the very next day, after not having packed a single thing, moved to my now so-called abode - and i have brought the roughness and toughness of camping with me and it has kept me sane and able to cope with these otherwise unsuitable conditions that i have and continue to undergo. firstly, i now live in a shoe box and my bathroom is a match box. fine. i have down-sized to a third of the space i had before. fine. sent all of my fall/winter apparel and shoes to my parents' until there is need for them. fine. let go of clothes i no longer wear or need. hmmmmmmmm. a little harder. and then came the fleas.... and the spiders. WTF. the previous tenant mentioned the spiders and since i lived in a basement and co-habitated with the daddy-long-legs, i didn't even think twice about it. but when i started seeing red spots on my ankles, then shins and calves, i knew there were critters invading my space and immediately i flashed to the previous tenant's adorable pooch and the random cats in the back of the property and realized there are fleas doing jumping jacks in my pad. not cool. now i commiserate with those little guys, those furry friends of ours that suffer, especially now in the summer heat. and then coming home to gigantic charlotte's webs every night spun across my entrance. WOW. now that is a sight. i just stand there and stare at this miraculous event. how the hell does it get clear across from the tree to the pillar, clearing at least 3 yards of free-fall? ok, i thought it was just one night when i was lucky to have a flashlight and thank god for it because otherwise, i would have walked straight into it's bull's eye. but it is every single night, at approximately 8:45pm to be precise, that these creatures come out to spin their dinner's fate-ridden tomb. who will be the sucker to get entangled next?



not me. i have learned to slow down, observe and reflect back on all of the signs the universe has given me as warnings and to listen to my inner voice telling when to watch out. little did i know that Anastasia, a book i read a few weeks prior, would be my guide book to really getting back in touch with all things natural and god-given. we are a collective breath, all interwoven out of the cosmos, and although the bites suck (pun intended) and having to embrace arachnids was something i hadn't planned on, i get to hear a sweet bird sing her song every day, see butterflies dance and prance around, and look out of my bathroom window to see glorious purple trumpets. when we learn to let go, the universe indeed takes care of us. and that is why a little discomfort at the end of the day makes life the beautiful miracle that it is.

mineral forest makeover

summer is almost here and the sun's peaking energy is catapulting mineral forest to a new location. goodbye to angelino height's enchanted underground victorian era bachelorette den, hello sunlit decks, mediterranean gardens and craftsman cottage charm in the heart of echo park! outdoor living and nature-inspired design is flowing in the veins:

Jodi Fuchs




Kranen/Gille








Ostrea by Annika Göransson



Dror Peacock Chair

industrial modern meets bohemian chic

final project a complete success!!!!!







inspirations by:
tom dixon
a long weekend
fieryeyed books
wonderwall
huset

healing himalayan ice quartz

i knew there was a reason I was particularly drawn to these babies...



Himalayan Nirvana Quartz Pale Pink Ice Point

This unusual icy white quartz wand is a type of interference quartz formation with a powerful, nurturing and protective energy signature known as Nirvana Quartz or Himalayan Ice Quartz, which is new in the world crystal markets. Nirvana Quartz originates high in the Himalayan mountain ranges of northern India. Late in 2006, Nirvana Quartz was discovered in extremely high altitude areas which had formerly been covered in ice 365 days a year. Exploring where glaciers had recently retreated, rockhounds discovered deposits of a unique type of rosy quartz never seen before. Nirvana Quartz appears in wands and in chunks composed of aggregates of irregularly shaped, convuluted smaller crystal formations which have grown into a single larger specimen over millennia of geological time. Himalyan Ice Quartz almost invariably lacks the more common six-sided shaft and well-defined termination tips characteristic of much clear and rose quartz found around the world. Nirvana Ice Quartz is an extreme example of the type of crystal formation known as growth interference quartz. Growth interference crystals are created when calcite or other mineral formations adhere to the crystallizing quartz formation, then disappear over time. This results in the creation of indentations, grooves and other irregularities along the prismatic faces of the quartz crystal. Growth interference crystals are typically used to enhance understanding of blocks we encounter in our quest for emotional, physical, or spiritual growth, and to gently remove these "stuck" energies, representing old and outdated mental conceptions of the world, recurring patterns of negative behavior manifesting in relationships, negative emotional reactions to life conditions , and physical impediments to health and well-being. The growth interference crystal can be used to help remove blockages in the chakra system, facilitating the flow of Kundalini energy throughout the human energy field. Nirvana Ice Quartz tends to heat up quite rapidly in the hand. One notices a strong flow of warmth and a surge of Universal Life Force energy up the arm and into the chest, centering in the heart, and then rushing down the trunk into the lower chakras, providing support, centering and grounding one's being. . Nirvana Ice Quartz is a wonderful stone to hold or place under the pillow when entering dreamtime, and provides a feeling of security, warmth, protection and well-being.

ode to iceland

beauty...





meets the beast