Anyone remember the This American Life “Americans in Paris” episode in which someone said how wanting to live in Paris can seem embarrassingly cliche, like having a crush on the cutest boy in class? (Loosely paraphrasing here!) Almost exactly 30 years after my first ever visit, the city outdid itself from previous trips. Long time dear friends who smartly took the aforementioned message to heart help, too. 🇫🇷
Orange blossom season aroma in Andalusia > Seville 🍊 marmalade. Can’t help but wonder if the Sevilla Cathedral suspended crocodile inspired Gehry’s pendants at Rebecca’s Venice (+ a little late March Madrid / Chipiona / El Gastor / Ronda). 🇪🇸
It feels wild to finally share this so here goes. Some of you know what I was up to for most of last year thanks to many folks’ kind graces and generous help as I tracked down leads on projects and people from West Texas to Baja. ‘Desert Dreaming: Design in the Southwest and Beyond’ from @gibbssmithbooks now has a cover, publication date of October 6, and an official publisher marketing/sales page via @simonandschuster (plus soon a spot on the family author bookshelf for me!)🌵 🏜️ 📕
/books/Desert-Dreaming/Jessica-Ritz/9781423668985
📸 @hannahgentiles
Dropping off a first-year college student curbside in the fluorescent flood-lit swampy glare of LAX at 4:00 am isn’t my idea of a satisfying sendoff — even if it’s what our eldest wanted. Thankfully three weeks later, we got to indulge some of our (selfish?!) parental needs around this major transition. It’s a relief to see how he’s already gotten the lay of the land in Philly and in an update that will surprise absolutely no one who knows him, has become fully SEPTA-fluent. Requisite Target runs were made, cinder block walls were decorated, and tsuris over finding the damn mattress topper remains ongoing. 🤷🏻♀️ Turns out his dorm I joked about giving Michael Graves PoMo vibes actually IS a Graves building, but more importantly, provides a perfect view over the 30th Street Station train yard and labyrinthine tracks. Easy access to spotting the new Acela fleet and other rolling stock in action seems like a promising start, and matters more to this freshman (does anyone say “frosh” anymore?) than most typical farewell rituals.
You can fit a lot into 20 years of marriage —and squeeze in quite a bit into a 3-night anniversary trip to CDMX (with so much more to do in both). ❤️🤍💚
Cued up the Bowie Trilogy for wandering around #Berlin. Lots to 💭 with respective national relationships to history and its jagged arc in this frightening moment. Next time: Bauhaus Dessau visit and definitely buying more Haribo.
Never enough historic house tours! This time a twist on my usual encounters with experimental domestic modernism by emigres and exiles in the U.S.: the Gropius House in Lincoln, Mass. So intriguing to see the home on a gently rising slope in the New England woods at magic hour where Marcel Breuer was Walter and Ise’s neighbor — and such a shift from L.A.’s densely packed semi-urban hillsides surrounded by an unintentional catalogue of period revival styles. I wonder how warm it had to get for the (single temp valve!) outdoor shower season to begin in these parts.
The Point Dume House, our family home.
Thank you @archdigest for the beautiful feature - this is dream come true, @michaelcliffordphotography for the stunning imagery - we love and adore you so very much, @jessnritz for the incredibly flattering and authentic voice to the story.
I am so honored, and grateful.
Design @sarahsolis
Photo @michaelcliffordphotography
New Orleans has a way of teaching the art of yes. During my first visit in the late 90s I was crushed when our dad said to cancel a long standing Commander’s Palace res because we got a Friday night dinner invite we had to accept without question. He was 100% right. The crawfish boil at Art Neville’s house in Uptown was an unreplicable experience; Commander’s could wait for another time. This year I didn’t do my own birthday blowout but instead have a YOLO/hell yeah attitude to special invites and celebrations, and #MOP50 weekend was like riding a wave of NOLA’s gifts while gathering with good people after such a brutal, deflating period. A reminder of spirit, resolve, connection, fierceness, generosity, and what else we’ve gotta say yes to when facing what’s to come. ⚜️💜💚💛
When planning a Japan trip that I could finally take, turns out fourth time’s the charm (long story). Thanks in part to a Big Birthday I tacked on 72 hours in #tokyo — during which predictably I LOST MY MIND walking, wandering, eating, looking, riding 🚇, and shopping (pls indulge the too-on-the-nose music pick but it came up on a playlist while in Ginza and feels 🎯 ). 🇯🇵
Cheap trick to unintentionally impressing residents of another country: visiting a relatively obscure destination. It’s even more of a cheat if it’s your first time stepping foot within that nation’s borders. Sadogashima #sadoisland isn’t typically high on foreigners’ Japan tourism list. The western Sea of Japan island is largely known for its precious metal mines and #taraibune tub boat rides (as seen in ‘Spirited Away’) but like any place with millennia of history those types of attractions just scratch the surface. Some selects here give an idea of its intact buildings and soul-calming interiors, lush landscapes and deep blue coastlines, local foods and sake. 🌾🍙 We got to learn about time-honored crafts, like Mumyoi pottery made from the mine-derived red clay (see image of Nagayanagi-san master at work and still thinking about what else I wish I bought @kitazawagama !). A cup of coffee tasted perfect in the most beautiful small movie theater/community space at Gashima Cinema. Even if the newly designated UNESCO World Heritage Site Sado Gold historically wasn’t exactly a happy place, the pride in this heritage can’t be dismissed, as conveyed via @sadotourism@smoke_door ingenious dinner. (Check out @tunatoast feed for more specific stories; very grateful for her insights and that of our indefatigable expert guide @nataliehommel 🙌🏼) 🇯🇵
