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CA Gift Show and LA Mart

July 26, 2015

I so look forward to attending the semi-annual California Gift Show and LA Mart. It’s where I learn about all of the upcoming trends in jewelry, sample some fantastic gourmet food, and get miles and miles of walking in! Of course, I had my phone out to take pictures along the way 🙂

Rows and rows of vendors, selling colorful beaded pieces, and one of my favorite trends for summer, tassel necklaces.

Fell in lust with this butterfly diplay.

Kyle Chan is one of my favorite jewelry designers and a trip to the LA Gift Show is not complete without a stop by his booth. He creates the most beautifully simple pieces that really allow the natural beauty of the stones to shine through. I’ll be posting my buys from the show in a future post ?

Next up, we headed to the LA Mart, an open-to-the-trade only building in downtown LA. Almost everything here is for order-writing only, but I still get tons of inspiration for decorating and trends.

After all was said and done, I remembered that there was a gorgeous succulent garden on the wall outside of the Mart and grabbed this shot.

I should be posting my buys from the show later this week… And I got some awesome pieces that I can’t wait to share with you! I’ve already styled one of the necklaces on Instagram.

Another year, another great and productive show!
😀

LA Day Trip with OOTD

July 22, 2015

It’s so awesome that from where I live, I can be in Big Bear, Palm Springs, Temecula, Santa Monica, or Los Angeles in about an hour. It allows for so many opportunities for day trips, exploring new parts of each city and tasting what they all have to offer.
For our last trip, Mark and I drove to LA to visit my friend Bonnie in North Hollywood, a little window-shopping in Beverly Hills, and then dinner and drinks at The Sayers Club.
My first outfit:
Palm tank – H&M
Rust skirt – H&M
Crisscross sandals – Forever 21
Crossbody leather bag – Botkier (rented)
Multicolor chain necklace – LA find
Long gold necklace – J.Crew – similar
Phone case – Kate Spade

Our first stop was to visit my great friend, Bonnie, at Republic of Pie. She introduced to us to the amazingly decadent Triple Threat Pie Cake. This season, they’re baking up pumpkin, blackberry and apple. I. Die.

Thankfully, this was our first food of the day, so we actually were hungry by the time we reached our next destination, Esterel, in the Sofitel Hotel.

From the top.. Our table setting with assorted breads and parmesan crisps
Grass-fed skirt steak with veggies and corn puree
Yogurt-basil mousse with assorted strawberry preparations
Chocolate tart with raspberries

Food = mostly delicious. I did get some attitude from the staff after sending back my steak for tasting like charcoal and burny bits off the grill, but my new steak tasted much better, and then ending on that fantastically sweet note of the two desserts, I was pretty happy with our meal.

A quick outfit change into this Erin Fetherston (rented) dress and azure kitten heels from Torrid, and I was ready for some purely speculative shopping at the Beverly Center.

One more outfit change (too many this trip haha!), in to black skinny jeans, black wedge booties and this sequined BB Dakota tank, and we were on our way to The Sayers Club. I didn’t really know what to expect after checking out their website… Club? Restaurant? Bar? Lounge? And even after going, I’m a bit unclear, but it would be easiest to say that it’s a perfect mix of all of the above. You dine in the bar area, which also houses the kitchen, complete with a wood-fired oven. We chose the mushroom flatbread and ahi stack, along with a couple of mixed drinks, all of which were super tasty. Beyond this section, past the velvet rope, is a loungey club area with reeeeeally loud thumping music and singles looking to mingle – not exactly our scene ? After checking that out, we headed back home.

Another great weekend trip with my love.
Where do you like to go for a day trip?
😀

Dinner at Bellatrix

July 21, 2015

For the first of Mark’s birthday festivities, we headed to the French fine dining restaurant, Bellatrix, located in Palm Desert, CA. I grabbed a few quick shots of our food and of the gorgeous scenery.

The braised honey BBQ shortribs with veggies and cauliflower puree was to die for. Seriously, I could eat this meal every week. Highly recommend.

Mark ordered the macadamia-crusted sea bass on shredded veggies and thoroughly enjoyed it.

How gorgeous is the interior? It felt so grand and luxurious. I would love to attend a holiday party here! Or hey, maybe I’ll throw one 🙂

Enamored by the views of the Classic Club golf course.
Dress – H&M – similar/similar
Necklace – eBay – similar

Metallic bag – Loeffler Randall

Palm Springs Weekend

July 20, 2015

I always like to plan something extra special for my boyfriend’s birthday, and this year something told me to pick Palm Springs! Some may think me crazy, Palm Springs in July, and yes it was hot, but entirely bearable! I wanted to pack a lot in to our two days out there and Mark had a great time, which all I can hope for 🙂

We started the morning off with breakfast at Serrano inside Casino Morongo. I ordered my standard of eggs benedict and it, and the service, were both outstanding.

I basically had to break several traffic laws to make it to the Living Desert to make it in time for the giraffe feeding. I knew it was something we absolutely had to do while out there. We both love animals and are all about the hands-on experiences.

After the zoo, we freshened up a bit and headed to Chi Chi’s at the newly renovated Avalon Hotel, formerly the Viceroy. I was super excited to try out this menu, after looking it over online. We were not disappointed and I would certainly return for the tasty bites and the California-casual chic vibes.

See what I mean? Gorgeous and relaxed. I could spend all day here, lounging around this room, around the pool, etc.

We checked in to our hotel, enjoyed a couples massage, went back to the room to shower and get ready for a lovely dinner at Trio in downtown Palm Springs. We shared a bottle of wine, a couple of entrees and dessert. After all of that indulging, we felt like walking around for a while, and we were in luck, because it was market night! We stopped in to one of my favorite Palm Springs haunts, Las Casuelas, for a round of drinks (for him a classic marg, for me, a Paloma.

I’m sad I didn’t get a better shot of this show-stopper, from designer Gabriela Cadena. It was a tiny but snug up top and around the waist, but the fabric on the bottom was so incredibly gorgeous, I got loads of compliments on it.
Gown – Gabriela Cadena – rented
Bag – vintage
Heels – Gucci

The next morning, we craved nothing more than to sip on a bloody Mary poolside while catching up on some reading.
Sarong – Mara Hoffman from the Box of Style

After that, we packed up, checked out, walked around downtown for a while then sat down for a late lunch at Lulus, another of my must-go-to’s in Palm Springs. Then began the shortish drive back home, but not without a stop at the Desert Hills Premium Outlets, known to locals as Cabazon, where I picked up a few gems at the J.Crew outlet.

Leather envelope bag
Iridescent stone necklace
Jewelry dish
Cuff
Chevron bracelet

I was hoping to find some new skinny jeans for summer, but no such luck.
We were wiped after shopping for a few hours, so we happily headed home where our puppies were waiting for us and we went to sleep at 8:00. Party animals haha.