Snapshots from LA

RODEO DRIVE:
Looks fake it's so perfect. Yes, those are all canary diamonds.

THE BEVERLY HILLS HOTEL:
like you've time-traveled back to 1956

FIG & OLIVE ON MELROSE
best meal in LA

SUR RESTAURANT
Velvet menus and chandeliers over every table, Sur is owned by Lisa from the Real Housewives - yes, she was dining there that night and we got to meet her. She liked my sequin dress. : ) Who can blame her?

PRETTY SCENERY
Mulholland Drive and the W Hotel - Westwood

SANTA MONICA
Third Street Promenade, the pier, and the beach. I definitely recommend the roller coaster.

LA Eats

As you all know, I spent this past weekend in LA with my best friends. The weather, the shopping, the hotel, and the scenery were all beautiful. But my favorite part about the sunny yet equally smog-filled city was the food. Everything we ate was so fresh! And colorful! And delicious! True, it was expensive beyond all reason - a beer would set you back $9 - but it was amazing nonetheless. Here are a few of the tasty treats I enjoyed while there. We also had dinner at Fig and Olive, which was beyond, but it was too dark to photograph anything. Of everywhere we went though, I'd have to say the Urth Cafe was my favorite. We enjoyed lunch there when we drove out to Santa Monica, and the portobello panini was out of this world. I highly recommend it if any of you are visiting LA some time soon!

 

Toast on Third

goat cheese, spinach and avocado omelette

cottage cheese and fresh fruit

granola and yogurt

The Ivy

swordfish with mushroom pasta

papaya and shrimp salad

Beverly Hills Hotel

soy latte with cinnamon biscuit

 Urth Cafe in Santa Monica

portobello panini (favorite meal of the trip)

grilled vegetable sandwich with a side of hummus

In-N-Out

cheeseburger with grilled onions and a side of fries

Seeing Double: J.Crew and Kate Spade Spring Neons

Is it just me or are the spring/summer 2012 collections for J.Crew and Kate Spade looking an awful lot alike? Loads of neon, nautical blues, and citrusy orange are colorblocked to create bold, saturated. Perfect for greeting warmer days ahead. And yes, that is very weird to say considering all we have to look forward to for the next few months are colder, and colder days ahead...

Either way, I'm excited to see that the few neon accessories I purchased last season were not a mistake!

Los Angeles Virgins

 

...would be the best way to describe my first best friends and myself. None of us have ever been! But over the next three days, we'll be romping through the world of hills, sunshine, and movie stars.

Other than Toast on Third, which came highly recommended by my LA lady Danielle, we don't really have any set plans. Any advice?! Restaurants, LA boutiques, must-see sights? We are staying at a hotel that's very centrally located and will have a car. Help!

Also - do I have any readers from LA who can share with me a bit about how to dress? What's the weather like this time of year? Warm? Layers? Again - help!

The Prettiest Country Wedding on the Prettiest of Days

I had to share some snapshots from the country wedding I attended last Friday. My cousin and his wife could not have chosen a more beautiful spot for their charming October nuptials. St. James Farm in Warrenville, Illinois is about an hour outside the city and boasts rolling hills, tree-lined gravel paths, white fences and yellow barns. The ceremony itself took place under a canopy of trees in the late afternoon. Thanks to the perfect weather and setting sun, the land and sky around us seemed to glow, making the moment even more romantic and beautiful than it otherwise would have been. I am excited to say the bride DID in fact wear cowboy boots, as I had hoped she would! And I was obsessed with my cousins' bridesmaids dresses; they were burgundy satin cinched with black ribbons and embroidered brooches along the waist. And the yellow bouquets they carried added the perfect contrast.

And before any of you ask, it was not just my immediate family wearing all black, it was in fact our entire side of the ceremony. Not sure why, but I found it funny.