Hotel San Jose

As I mentioned, last Friday I was sitting in our Hotel San Jose grand suite. From the minute we stepped foot into our room, feng shui bonded with the Simmons' psyche. We will be house-shopping in a few months, and needless to say we took mental interior decorating notes. Take a look for yourself....

#1 ~ Sitting area with tapestry-covered pillows, West Elm-ish platform wrap-around sofa, rice paper lamp, modern wood table, cowhide rug, and a Bertoia chair:



#2 ~ Entrance table with Eames Eiffel chairs, another wooden Eames chair to the left by the window flooded with lush foliage, a leather stool, and note the very cool stained concrete floors. We love the floors and the whole minimalist-Dwell feel to this room. I totally stole the recycled paper notepad with hotel letterhead that was on the entrance table. Johnny said it was not actually stealing; we did pay an arm and a leg for the room, after all:



#3 ~ Another perspective of the entrance table and sitting area. The TV is seated on a Saarinen Tulip table, and I love the On the Road (by Jack Kerouac) vintage pulp-novel art poster:



#4 ~ It is hard to say, but this may be my favorite part of the whole room. We LOVE this platform bed with bedside tables fused into the bedframe. In fact, we have our eye on a similar West Elm bedframe that sits right on the floor. I adored the tapestry bedspread, the bed was actually super comfortable, and the Bose Wave Radio II (ours also included a CD player) was a luxury:



#5 ~ A close-up of the cute tapestry bedspread (I once had a similar burgandy tapestry from Urban Outfitters which I used as a bedspread when I lived with my friend Holly, and then that tapestry morphed into a curtain for a main, large window when I lived alone in a studio apartment behind Empire Cafe. I don't know what happened to my curtain, but now we have a new burgandy/navy moon & stars tapestry that serves as a tablecloth; my friend Kirby got it for me from India on one of his trips to Peace City):



#6 ~ Johnny in front of the bed doing his usual uncooperative photo face. He is mucho handsome, so I wish he would just smile in pictures!:



#7 ~ This was Johnny's favorite feature of our room - an industrial, sliding bathroom door. I have to admit it was very cool, but it was kinda loud. Johnny fell asleep while I washed my face/brushed my teeth, and when I opened the door he sat up in bed, startled:



#8 ~ Why, and look what was waiting for me in the bathroom - Organica! Cute, little travel-size samples are good, but cute little organic samples are GREAT! What we have here is Modern Organic Products (MOP) Basil Mint shampoo, MOP Mixed Greens conditioner, and Dr. Bronner's Magic 18-in-1 Hemp Peppermint Pure-Castile soap. This was also my very first attempt at digital photography. It could have been much worse:



#9 ~ Not only was Organica waiting in our bathroom, but also this poem tacked to the left of the mirror: "I Walked Through Medieval Town" by Adam Zagajewski. A poem on the wall is brilliant:



#10 ~ At this point we acted like complete tourists with no shame. I'm certain our hotel neighbors were cool musicians such as Patty Griffin (she owns a house in Austin but just humor me here) mocking the both of us, most uncool, but who gives a flying Turkish fig. Our psyches were elated and we could not suppress such happiness! This is me sitting in a retro patio chair right outside of our door:



#11 ~ Here is a similar picture taken a little farther out so you can see that our room was bungalow-style, and the squash blossoms on the ground to the right:



#12 ~ A large, wooden Zen egg:



#13 ~ Me sitting at a table with cool wood block chairs, and the Zen egg to the right:



#14 ~ Leaving the table and block chairs we spied this gorgeous walkway leading to the pool and wine bar:



#15 ~ We did not snap shots of the pool and wine bar because the movie stars and musicians were too cool for us, but here is the gorgeous walkway leading back to the table and block chairs:



#16 ~ From our courtyard area, there was a gate spilling us right onto S. Congress. This was our view directly across the street. Second from the left we have The Continental where I wish I had seen Marah play, and to the right of the club we have Ten Thousand Villages (Sadly, we were unable to fit shopping there into our trip, but much to my delight I discovered we have a store in Houston!):



#17 ~ A perfect end to a perfect hotel room - room service breakfast in Japanese bento boxes. On the left I had roasted salmon and cream cheese with tomatoes, onions, capers, and bauguette; fresh fruit; fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice; and two pots of green tea (an accident on my part, but I drank it all). On the right Johnny had fresh fruit, yogurt, a huge healthy muffin, fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice, and a red urn of coffee:



Then I enjoyed taking forever getting ready for my nephew-in-law's graduation while listening to KGSR on the Bose radio: Patty Griffin, Emmylou Harris & Mark Knopfler, Shawn Colvin, Steve Earle, and Johnny Cash (singing "Hurt"; does anyone else think the intro chords sound similar to Patty Griffin's "Every Little Bit"?). Johnny took use of the free wi-fi and played on my iBook. We felt at home and it was hard to leave, but our consolation was an ingenious plan: to begin a new wedding anniversary tradition! One night at The Gruene Apple, one night at Hotel San Jose, and hopefully catch a show at The Continental. I can't wait 'til January 2007.