marcus LOVES: san francisco

There's nothing better than an impromptu road trip with a great friend to a great city. Lexy (fashionnative.com) and I hopped in her VW bug, and skipped up to the bay for a long weekend. Yearning for the Christmas spirit in a big city, we settled down in Union Square where we shopped, ate and ice skated. The highlight of our stay was spending time with our friends Jared and Ben who held a Holiday Party celebrating their new design space in the Mission District. Jared is an incredible furniture designer (jrusten.com). I am dying for his California Table. We had such an amazing time, I think we will be making the trip again very soon.

marcus LOVES: my daily nirvana

Today Dan and I decided to drive down to Laguna. Here we sit at Taco Loco, a local's favorite, enjoying our beers and the sunset. This is nirvana on December 11th.

Location:Sleepy Hollow Ln,Laguna Beach,United States

marcus LOVES: my daily nirvana

I've decided to start a daily posting about what I consider to be my daily nirvana. At any given moment of each day I will blog about the moment that strikes the greatest. Today it's working from home, laying in bed using my new MacBook pro, feather sleeping on a silk cushion in front of me, my favorite time of day, dusk and the cool cross breeze blowing through my apartment. This is nirvana on December 10th.

Location:Effie St,Los Angeles,United States

marcus LOVES: h&m menswear spring summer 2011

Over the years we have all seen H&M come up with checkbook friendly, fashionable duds for the ladies. Even their designer collaborations are 90% geared towards the gals. I have approx. 4-5 pieces in my wardrobe from H&M that I was lucky enough to find while digging through the mounds of euro/neon/starched cotton/oddly fitted clothes that are thrown on the sales floor. SS '11 may be able to change my mind. I'm loving everything I see in the campaign. I just hope that the clothes look as good on the floor as they do post-Photoshop.

marcus LOVES: rodarte for black swan

I haven't been this excited for a film in years. Dark, dramatic, thrilling, a star-studded cast and, last but not least, costumes designed by Rodarte! I know it's been years since the debut of of their label, but I am still fascinated by those young girls from Pasadena. I'm pre-ordering my tickets today!

marcus LOVES: the south - day 2

Put 100 Christians, and 100 Mexicans in a 10x10sq. mile town in the middle of nowhere with a huge university (Texas Tech), and there you have Lubbock. The brick paved roads were cute, and so were the local’s expressions in response to Margalit not wearing a bra and my tattooed chest.

As hard as it was for us to leave Lubbock, we had to get back on the road, and boy was that all there was all day. Did I mention that I am narrating this entire trip with a Southern drawl? Pasture after pasture, soy crop after soy crop; it was quite boring, but the skies were amazing. Somewhere in the middle we ran across an abandoned farmhouse, and naturally we had to stop and check it out. On the front porch there laid a pair of old cowboy boots, and a screen door hanging on one hinge (imagine Auntie Em’s house post tornado). I was afraid to touch anything, fearing that the slightest movement would cause the entire structure to fall on top of us. With a little TLC, this could have been the perfect shabby chic abode.

On the road again. We hadn’t had phone service all day; it was like living in the 90’s. We reached the small town of Early, TX, and stopped for their famous “Drive Through Peach Cobbler”. It was pretty damn good. Don’t order the pint, or you will eat all of it, and it’s not a fun drive there on out.

Once the stomachache subsided, about 200 miles later, we reached Austin. Both Margalit and I wished that we had more time to spend in this Southern gem of a city, but what we did see, we liked. This was a first time visit for both of us, so I did some research in an effort to not waste any time. We went straight to SoCo (Southern Congress area). Once a rundown strip of pay-by-the-hour motels, SoCo is now a hipster haven overflowing with vegan friendly restaurants, thrift stores, and gourmet roach coaches. Our first stop was at the local artisan flea market. It was pretty typical of any arts and crafts section at a neighborhood farmer’s market; hand-made hippy jewelry, hemp clothing and local activists recruiting other locals. After that we went to an amazing store called Uncommon Objects. Foreign and domestic antiques dating back to the early 1800’s were merchandised by color and style, and had I had an unlimited amount of spending money, I’d have bought the entire store. We then had dinner at the Southern Congress Café, and desert at Hey Cupcake, a vintage Airstream trailer turned cupcake bakery. I wasn’t impressed with Austin’s selection of eye candy (boys); I guess nothing compares to CA. We made a brief stop at the capital building, and then back on the road. Next stop, New Orleans.

marcus LOVES: The South - Day 1

Something that I have always wanted to do is venture across the Southern United States by car. So when the opportunity came a knockin’ at my door, I had to bring along my lifelong partner-in-crime, Margalit (Feather already had plans).

The trip began in the neon desert most refer to as Las Vegas. We crossed the Hoover Dam, and drove straight through Arizona to Albuquerque, New Mexico, a very quaint, but flavorful city. We checked in at the eclectic Route 66 Hostel in Downtown Albuquerque (I highly recommend to anyone), and got some much needed shut eye. Once refreshed we hit the streets. We thrifted for a while, but didn’t have room for any vintage adobe motif, and then ate at The Original Garcia’s Kitchen. Garcia’s is famous for its authentic New Mexican cuisine and hot green and red chile peppers. It is said that during President Bill Clinton’s visit to NM, he ordered a record-breaking amount of take-out for him and his staff. After we had our fill of fried egg topped, blue corn enchiladas and honey covered sopapillas we hit the road just in time for the sunset. It was beautiful.

We drove until our eyes couldn’t stay open any longer, and ended up crashing in Lubbock, Texas.