Happy Crafts: Rock Animals

Yay! A not-impossible kids rock craft from Martha Stewart. I really like this one. It looks easy and I feel like the kids could do a lot of it on their own. (Not dominoes quite yet!) Love those ladybugs! PS, site says to use acrylic or tempera paints.

Happy Stuff: Furniture That Grows With Kids

Loooove the concept: Furniture that can grow with your kids. That's the idea behind this table and chair set from Japanese furniture designers, Sankei Co., which debuted at this year's ICFF. And extra credit cool: It's all made from paper! Problem is, I'm not exactly feeling the execution. One tweak could have made it much better in my humble (and totally uninformed vis a vis manufacturing opinion): If the beige parts were white. It would have given the whole set a fresher vibe. (And then I also wonder if the adjustable feature works well or not.) But like I said, love the concept! And it definitely beats my aging, fourth-hand Fisher Price table/bench set.

Happy House: The UCLA study

If you haven't read the NY Times story on the UCLA study that involved videotaping 32 LA families during almost every waking moment for a week, I suggest you do so. It's enlightening and also may lighten your mental load that you're parenting wrong. If you've got kids and a husband and a job, the story will most likely affirm your everyday trials and tribulations juggling it all (and feeling like a failure. You're in good company). A few telling stats: Moms spend 27 percent of their time doing housework, while dads clock in at 18 percent. Moms spent 19 percent of their time talking with family members or on the phone; 11 percent taking breathers that the study called "leisure." Dads racked up 20 percent chatting, 23 percent leisure. And this caught my attention: Videos revealed homes chock a block with toys, books, clothes, stuff and more of stuff, but backyards, which are often the most uncluttered of all spaces, were the least used (in sunny LA). We're guilty of this at my house. Too much TV, not enough back (or front) yard time. In the study, family members also would spit into vials to measure their levels of cortisol, the stress hormone. And get this: The more women engaged with their husbands in the evening, the faster their cortisol dropped. The men's levels tapered more slowly when talking to a spouse. (I wonder what spacing out to The Daily Show does to cortisol levels?) And being obsessed with home org (not that my place is very organized), my fave detail from the piece was that the clutter on fridge doors tended to predict the amount of clutter elsewhere. Oy vey. I'm in trouble.

Happy Decor: Numbered Staircase

Wish I had some stairs to number! I've seen this before, but I'm especially loving the way Sarah Richardson used different font styles on her farm house staircase. So cute! (From Sarah's House).

Happy Decor: Sarah Richardson's Farm House

I'm freaking on designer Sarah Richardson's latest redo on HGTV, Sarah's House. She's gutting and designing a farm house, giving traditional country decor a shot of modern cool. I'm loving, loving it, especially the kitchen. She gutted the room and redid it for $55,000. I think some of the bigger-ticket items included windows, plumbing and the stone countertops and back splashes. She cut corners using pre-fabricated cabinets from Sears (she painted some of them bright yellow to further the custom feel), a few inexpensive vintage elements and big-box store stainless appliances. One of my favorite details are the polka-dot, oil cloth-upholstered bar stools. Never thought of oil cloth as good for upholstery, but it makes a lot of sense with greasy-pawed kids around. Mostly I'm responding to the bright, airy look, the insane amounts of counter space and the luxurious yet casual vibe. Ahhhh, maybe someday...

Happy Decor: David Stark's Post-It Art

I mean, why not? How happy would this make you to see your fridge in full bloom? Artist/designer David Stark did this for Design Sponge last week and I'm loving it. Cheap, (semi) easy and definitely serotonin-boosting.

Happy Stuff: Toy Guns

I never, ever thought I'd allow toy guns into our house (or candy or this much princess paraphernalia or the entire Disney movie canon). My son John, at almost 4, is obsessed with all kinds of weapons. He has amassed a cache of plastic swords (his obsession circa five-minutes ago). He's now moved on to semi-automatics. Eve's pretty handy with a saw'd off Toys R Us special herself. Although I have yet to make a purchase, the two search and destroy whenever they sense that someone's packing plastic heat. Yesterday John woke up from a power nap and got into one of his crying jags. After 30 minutes of it, I'd exhausted every trick in the book (ignoring him, quietly sitting next to him, getting a glass of wine and reading catalogs in his room, giving him gum, yogurt sticks, TV. No dice). So I called Jack, our 10-year-old neighbor, who's helped me out of many a trying spot with the kids. "Jack, can you help out cheer John up? Bring comic books and guns." Like any self-respecting super hero, Jack was here within the minute, armed and dangerous. "Look who's here John! And he's got guns!" Tears? Who, John, sob? Within a nano second or two, John, Eve and Jack were tearing around the house, laughing and shouting. Genius on my part struck (again) and I just opened the back door just as their whirlwind passed, gently guiding them out of the house into the backyard. They played hard and happy for 30 minutes (at which point Jack got bored, can't blame him). It gave me enough time to semi clean the house and get dinner almost on the table. Team work! Toy guns!

Happy Talk: Legends of La Cienega Panel

I had a blast moderating the Legends panel, Design Diaries. Everyone was soooooo nice! Thank you Gregory Han from Apartment Therapy L.A., Joy Cho from Oh Joy, Janet Hall from Remodelista and Cassandra Lavalle from Coco + Kelly for being such amazing panelists! You were all so informed, warm, fun and accessible and I got tons of great feedback. People said they learned a lot about what you're doing. Thanks all!

Happy Maker: Wil.i.am

OK, have to admit. Wasn't a huge Will.i.am fan (am I even punctuating that right?) until about 45 minutes ago. He was on Oprah today, as one of her angels. He volunteered to pay two families' mortgages. Both were on their way to losing their homes and Will.i.am (Will. with a period for short? Not sure) paid them off completely in a non-flashy, non-Hollywood (OK, he was on national TV!) way that made me respect the guy. He also announced a new venture to help others from losing their homes, the i.am home web site, which, despite more uncalled for punctuation, seems to be very practical and caring. Yay people helping people keep their homes!

Happy House: Dana Goodyear's Pad on the Market

I'm now adding House Envy to Career Envy to Dana Goodyear's file. Her Hollywood Hills house, which she shares with hubs/real estate developer Billy Lehman, just went on the market for $4.95 million with Rose and Chang. I love this house, even the semi-offensive Liz Craft sculpture flipping the bird outside the kitchen. Love the light, airy vibe throughout, all that greenery and the big splashes of color from the art. The pics are from C mag's story on the house, taken by one of my favorite LA photog's, Lisa Romerein.