happy endings

don't you love a happy ending? m21 does!

weekend before last, m21 posted about some kitties in need of adoption- and guess what? our friend yvette adopted the little black kitty, and 'sheba' is now happily living in her new permanent home!

yay for yvette (and sheba), and yay for happy endings!

don't you forget about me...

don't worry john, for people of a certain age, we never can, or will...

los angeles interior designer tag sale

don't forget the designer tag sale of the century this saturday in venice- every blog in the world has publicized it already, so get there early! even though m21 has never got anywhere early is his whole entire life (we all have our flaws- whoever said promptness is a virtue anyway?), he is thinking of braving the crowds and lining up with starbucks in hand in search of the bargains (and going to say hi to his friends, the fabulous molly and kate of m. design, of course- he'd better not see anything you've bought from the atelier on your table, girls)!

so who else is going? and would you save m21 a place in line?
that's it for today's post- maison21 is exhausted. he spent the day yesterday helping his former firm put together an installation, 5 years in the making. i wish i could show you pictures, but you'll have to wait until it's published (not my project, so not mine to publicize- sorry to be a tease). i will tell you the home is A-MAZ-ING- ultra modern architecture which my former boss softened with 18th century reclaimed parquet de versailles floors. m21 helped with the custom furnishings, and they turned out beautifully, if he doesn't say so himself.

here is the view that m21 was 'forced' to stare at all day, as he fretted whether to move a credenza two inches further to the left, or if a rug was really centered under a soffit... if you look closely, i think you can see the location of the tag sale in venice off in the distance (wouldn't it be nice if this was your view)?

it's a hoot!

yeah, we know- it's a decorating blog, not a technology blog, but when m21 runs across something insanely great, he feels the need to share...

like m21, lots of our readers and fellow bloggers are twitter converts (if you don't tweet and don't 'get' twitter, stop reading now before your eyes glaze over), so he wanted to share his new favorite thing: hootsuite- the best desktop twitter tool we've tried!
what makes it so cool? well, there are too many things to mention, but we'll give 3 examples:

1. it divides your twitter stream into organizable columns- your stream, tweets you've sent, tweets where you are mentioned, and direct messages. after trying it out, m21 discovered all sorts of reply tweets that were lost in his twitter stream! sometimes he wondered if he was tweeting into outer space for lack of responses, so it's nice to know a few folks out there were paying attention. (you can also add columns of your own design, but that's still a bit advanced for m21).
2. speaking of tweeting into outer space, if you use hootsuite to shrink your tweeted links, hootsuite actually tracks how many people click on them! how cool is that? now, m21 really knows that people follow his twitter stream!
   
3. when you are in a tweeting mood, with hootsuite, you can actually schedule your tweets in advance- so instead of sending out six tweets in rapid succession, ('oh, god, m21 is bored and tweeting again'), you can spread your twitter love throughout the day!

seriously, it's good stuff. try it- it might make you a twitter fan, if you are not already! (and if you'd like to follow m21 on twitter- @maison21- he'd love to have you! warning, our twitter persona is a bit feistier then our blog, but tweets by nature are so short, you can easily ignore the icky bits). ;-)

oh, and while we are on the subject of technology, if you use a mac, m21 highly recommends installing "applejack", the best disk utility ever, and it's FREE! m21 uses it once a week, and it's kept his creaky old mac running far beyond it's shelf life (knock on wood)... applejack is a little scary the first time you run it ('what's single user mode?', what are all those scary scrolling commands on my computer screen?'), but after your first use, you'll wonder how you ever lived without it. seriously, it's like magic- when you are done, your mac will be leaner and faster, and well, happier. promise. (disclaimer- m21 is far from a mac guru, and he personally has never experienced a problem with applejack, but if for some reason you do, m21 can't be held responsible, k)?

next post back to decorating. maybe.

raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens...

this saturday, m21 dropped mona off at the fabulous pour la pooch on beverly for a day of beauty, and ducked across the street to erewhon natural foods market, where i saw the below adorableness at a cat adoption table just outside the entrance to the store.

look at these sweet little faces- how can you not want one in your life?

of course we completely fell in love with one of the kittens- a little grey calico with slightly picasso-esque white markings on her face, and the furriest ears ever. i explained to the pet adoption volunteer, much as i would love to adopt another pet, i just couldn't- the atelier is full, so no new pets just now, and asked her how many kittens she had been able to place that day- who can resist a kitten, after all? with a little weariness and resignation, the volunteer replied that she had placed none- nor had she the saturday before, or the saturday before that...

this is the little 2 and half month old girl i fell for- so adorable.

shocked that the kittens weren't being adopted like hotcakes, i spoke about their plight with pour la pooch's lovely owner, gia, herself a rescue fanatic with 4 rescued cats, and she explained that the volunteer was out in front of the market all day, each and every saturday, and actually wanted to add another day to her adoption efforts, but the store would permit only one day a week.

her sister, looking like popeye as she wakes up from her nap for the photo.

so as i was driving my newly clipped and sweet-smelling little girl, mona, back home, i couldn't stop thinking about the cats, and the volunteer's dedication, and the fact that if animal lovers like gia and myself, weren't able to take the kitties, what hope did they have for permanent homes?

this mellow 5 year old orange tom was declawed by his former owners and thus a great opportunity for someone worried about a cat's destructive capacity, but without the guilt of putting them through a horribly painful and cruel operation. love his salt and pepper nose, too.

so after a food and water pit-stop at home, i decided to grab my trusty instamatic and head back up to the adoption @erewhon- if i wasn't able to take one of the kittens, perhaps i could harness the power of the internets to help- by blogging them, facebooking them and tweeting them in the hopes of finding permanent homes. chances are my efforts won't come to anything, but perhaps these sweet little faces will touch enough readers of this post to forward it on, or post it on their own blogs, or facebook it, or tweet it themselves; and on and on, until these pictures finally reach whomever they are supposed to reach, and these 6 sweet little guys can find permanent loving homes.

this sweet and petite little lady is barely a year old, and has already had a litter of kittens.

the rescue organization is the nine lives rescue center, and i know nothing about them, other then this woman is willing to rescue cats in danger of euthanization at local shelters, house them, care for them and devote every single saturday to trying to find them homes. whatever her adoption fee for these kitties is, it's not enough, that 's for sure.

one of a pair of 4 month old russian blue males- so regal.

and last, a word about cats: lots of people define themselves as "dog people", and as a former "dog person", i can tell you for a fact that a "dog person" is just someone who has never been lucky enough to have a cat in their life. cats are every bit as rewarding companions as dogs, and in fact, are in many ways a much easier animal to care for- they are self entertaining, don't need walks three times a day and groom themselves, to boot; and that "aloof" cat thing is nothing but a myth- richard the cat is every bit as affectionate as his sister mona, but in a more independent, less needy, kind of way, and that kinda just makes it all the more special when he hops in my lap, purring, looking for love.

the downside? yes, the clawing thing is a bummer- no getting around that- but like with any relationship in one's life, there are pluses and minuses, and the pluses for sure outweigh the minuses. plus, adopt a kitty, and i'll give you the name of my super cheap, super fast and highly competent upholsterer to remedy the problem!

look at how beautiful his coat is- the perfect animal for anyone obsessed with aesthetics!

i end my post with a few pleas for assistance- the number of cats and dogs in shelters is higher then ever right now because of the hideous economy, and that means animals are being put down in greater and greater numbers. if you think you could give one of these sweet kitties a home, email me in the right hand sidebar, and i'll pass on your info, or visit the rescue organization's website, or simply go to erewhon market on beverly (at the back entrance to the grove) next saturday and meet them in person. if you don't live in los angles, and one of these beauties is calling out to you, visit petfinder.com to find a little friend in your area- there are plenty to go around right now!

and please,share this post with anyone you think might be interested, or repost it on your on blog, or facebook it, or tweet it, or send a smoke signal, or whatever you can do to help me find homes for these little furry beasts!

thank you!