Inside The Light

The Bellagio

While in Las Vegas, my designer friends and I naturally had to "ooh" and "aahh"-- and maybe even drool a bit-- over the fabulous hotel and restaurant designs. It's a hospitality designer's paradise!

The Palazzo

Dos Caminos Restaurant at the Palazzo

Dos Caminos Restaurant at the Palazzo

What we wouldn't give to have a project like that!  

The Cosmopolitan

We stopped in the newest hotel to the strip, The Cosmopolitan. 

The Cosmopolitan

The main shopping and dining area consists of a humungous chandelier installation that is quite breathtaking!  

The Cosmopolitan

 The chandelier loops around the 4 stories of the atrium, enveloping a few bars.  Very classy!

The Cosmopolitan

The Cosmopolitan

Who wouldn't want to be a VIP guest and check in at this VIP lounge?

The Cosmopolitan

Do you have a favorite hotel on the strip?


Photos by Rebecca Ward

Craziness!

I hope you all had a great Easter Weekend!  My life is very busy right now with work and starting to look for a house!  I love it all though and am really excited for the next few months to unfold.

I am literally running out the door to catch a plane to Las Vegas.  I will be spending the next few days with my designer friends attending the Kitchen and Bath Industry Show (aka KBIS) and the Window Fashions convention.  I know I will return with all kinds of great info to share! 

In the meantime, I will leave you with this photo of some of the ideas going into my new commercial project of a pizza diner.  It's going to be very modern and a fun place to get pizza!  The greys and blacks wil be a perfect background to all of the great food.

Photos by Rebecca Ward.

New In Town

Last week, we went downtown with some friends to finally check out some of the new happening places.  There are a few places that have opened in the past year or two, in spite of the economy, that I haven't kept up on. We decided to hit the new spots on K street which have gone in on K street.  Being a Thursday night it wasn't too busy, so we stopped into Dive Bar while we were waiting a short time for a table at Pizza Rock. 

I thought both places emit a vibe of The City (what we Sacramentans call San Francisco) in that they were long narrow spaces with exposed brick walls.  What makes the Dive Bar unique for Sacramento is the fish tank above the bar with actual mermaids swimming back and forth, flirting with the patrons.

Pizza Rock had excellent food!  I loved the selections for their pizzas and the atmosphere was fun and suited my age group.  Rock music from the 90's played loudly  while we sat at our high top watching pizza dough being twirled for entertainment in front of the giant semi truck sticking out of the wall. 

They are both worth checking out if you're going to downtown Sacramento, especially for the 30 something crowd.

Cupcake Anyone?

Cupcakes stores have been trendy for the last few years, like self serve frozen yogurt.  I haven't been to any before yesterday but I think they're a great idea.  I'm about to start a new project with one of my architects to open  new location for her cupcake shop.  I stopped by Esther's Cupcakes in Sacramento to see how her flagship store checks out. 

It was adorable,as you would expect a cupcake shop to be.  Marble counters and pink walls with clean contemporary display cases.  My job will be to transfer the same image into a new, larger space with a few minor details and then an even larger store location that will double as a coffee shop. 

I met Esther, a lovely lady who seems to know her stuff about cupcakes.  I even got to sample on of her creations, the Earl Grey cupcake with Lavender flavered frosting.  It was amazing and made me wish for a cup of tea to accompany it!  I can't wait to get started on the project!


Images by Rebecca Ward

Out Of This World

My recent trip to San Diego was a little more than vacation.  My husband and I were there attending Comic-Con for our first time, which is, as the city of San Diego so eloquently put it, the celebration of popular arts. 

This convention was unlike any other I have attended.  It was normal to be in costume, representing your favorite sci-fi or fantasy character or your own creation. 

Amidst the numerous panels of actors, tv and movie promotions, comic book vendors and video game promoters we managed to fins a place outside the convention center to eat. 

We pushed our way through the crowds of zombies dragging down the streets in San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter to the Hard Rock Hotel where Syfy tv channel had leased a cafe space, renovating inside and out to resemble the Cafe Diem from their show Eureka. 

We got a prime seat outside where we could people watch to our hearts content as we ordered more food than we could eat.  It was quite the entertaining crowd and as the sun went down, the usual Saturday nightlife showed up looking oddly out of place in their hip clothes and normal hairstyles. 

We had so much fun at the convention, we may even go again, and this time I'll bring a better camera to capture all those kooky costumes and celebrities.


Images by Rebecca Ward

Babe-a-licious

The first leg of vacation my husband and I spent in hot, hot Palm Springs.  The best way to escape the heat was to duck in and out of stores, movie theaters and restaurants.  I must say the sunrise and sunsets in the desert paint the landscape in beautiful pinks and oranges, nearly making it worth the heat.  Another thing I was thankful for was that this desert heat was very dry.  Once out of direct sunlight, the air was considerably cooler.

Palm Springs does have a few things that caught my designer eye.  One of them is the restaurant Babe's which is a Bar-B-Que and Brewhouse.  We had been here before with friends a few years back on Christmas Eve so we knew what to order this time and let me tell you, our taste buds were in heaven!
To start we ordered barbecued chicken thighs that were oh-so-moist, served on a southwestern rice pilaf.  That, plus the enormous caesar salad we shared, made us glad we had decided to share the entree. We ordered the St. Louis ribs and short ribs combo which was served with two sides of our choice: sweet potato fries and half a baked yam covered in honey butter.  I'm hungry just remembering it all.

As I was enjoying the food, I observed the interiors around me which is southern (with a hint of New Orleans?)   and highly "pig" themed.  I wondered if they had to commission all the bronze cast pig's head lamp bases, wall plaques and statues.  Did I see poles spanning over open dining space that were meant to resemble a turnspit?

Enjoy the photos and if you are ever out that way, be sure to stop by Babe's!

Images by Rebecca Ward

The Mayan Restaurant

In addition to the Tea Grotto, my adventures in Utah took me too the one-of-a-kind restaurant called The Mayan.  I was pleasantly surprised when I went inside.  I felt as though I was in the queue for the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland! 

The restaurant has multi-story seating centered around a pool at the base of a "cliff" off which professional divers take the plunge every half our, I guess in the fashion of the ancient Mayans.  The weekend shows include a fire dancer which we were lucky to catch. 

There are 4 different diving shows, so even if you enjoy a leisurely dinner, you won't get board.  Along with sounds of the rain forest, the dining areas appear to be resting in the trees surrounding the pool. 

The Mayan is so far not a chain restaurant although, I think they would be successful in other touristic locations.  Enjoy a delicious Mexican dinner at this restaurant next time you are in Salt Lake City!

Welcome 2009!

Best Wishes for the upcoming year!

I brought in the New Year with my husband and friends at a fabulous restaurant in Roseville, CA called Crush 29. It's a Napa style restaurant with natural stone and wood complimenting its fresh and delicious Californian menu. For New Years Eve, they had a fixed menu with wine pairings for each course that really brought out the delicacies of each flavor.


It was a great place to relax and enjoy the sophisticated atmosphere for a few hours to bring in the new year.



May 2009 be prosperous for you!