Eddie and I headed over to Greystone Mansion Easter morning to do a little exploring before getting together with family. It’s a property I’ve never visited before and it was such a beautiful day, I knew it would make for a lovely holiday outing. The estate is owned by the city of Beverly Hills and the grounds are open to the public daily - no fee for parking or admission! It’s such a hidden gem, tucked away in the hills with a breathtaking view of the city. We didn’t explore inside the mansion itself as it’s is only open during special programs and events, but I hope to take a peek inside at some point in the future. The grounds alone are worth a viz though!
I’ve found if I’m ever a bit stressed or feeling overwhelmed with work, a simple walk outside in nature really helps to clear my mind and make me happy. I’m the sort of person whose mood is very much affected by my environment and what’s around me at any given moment. Whether it’s in a crowded grocery store, shopping mall, or sidewalk with people in a hurry and brushing past, or the daily LA traffic with drivers honking their horns, constantly cutting you off - I very easily become stressed and anxious in these sort of conditions. I wish I wasn’t so affected by external forces! But a bit of nature always does the trick to elevate my mood, calm me down, and simply reset. Away from cars, crowds, loud noises - just grass, trees, plants, and wildlife to keep you company.
I’m one of those people who will pick a restaurant based on its decor over its food - woops! I just love a beautifully decorated space, what can I say! Lucky for me, some of my fave restaurants in LA happen to not only be gorgeous, but also serve super yummy food. Hallelujah! For this list I kept it to my fave spots near where I live in West Los Angeles, mainly located in Culver City and Venice - my two fave parts of the city. Keep scrolling for all my picks!
As part of my LA Loves series, the goal is to share my fave businesses, places to visit, and fab things to do right here in Los Angeles. I love learning and experiencing new things, and LA is a great place for workshops. I’ve learned how to make candles, clay wall hangings, meditate, and make the perfect cup of pour over coffee! Over the weekend Eddie and I had the pleasure of taking a Concrete Geometric Workshop - we learned techniques for working with concrete and color to create gorge planters. It was such a blast and the Concrete Geometric studio is super gorge. I wanted to share with you some pics from the day, and what I created. Makers gonna make!! Keep scrollin for all the fun :)
I'm on a quest to visit all the Los Angeles botanical gardens I can get my mitts on and finally crossed this oasis off my list over the weekend. The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens is a wonderful educational and research institution in San Marino, and the grounds are absolutely stunning.
If you're looking to spend a beautiful day outside surrounded by flowers, plants, and PEACOCKS, look no further than the Los Angeles Arboretum & Botanic Garden. Over 127 acres of beauty in the city of Arcadia, the grounds are seriously breathtaking. And the peacocks!! Over 200 of them live here, and they roam happy and free.
I was introduced to Flores Lane through a candle making workshop at Angel City Brewery in DTLA hosted by Trish Baden, the creator. Eddie and I had a blast sipping beers, jamming to 90's rap, & learning about the candle making process from Trish. She gave off such good vibes and has a wonderful fun-loving attitude, plus the candles we made were deeeelish. Trish was nice enough to invite Eddie and I over to her home studio where she runs her small business, in the heart of West Hollywood. I loved hearing her story and seeing where she concocts all her candles. Keep scrolling for the magic!
I'm always on the hunt for plant shops and nurseries in LA, so I kinda can't believe I had never been to this lil slice of jungle paradise called Rainforest Flora before! It's especially a must visit if you're a Tillandsia (also known as air plants!) lover, since that's their specialty. They're the largest producer of Tillandsias in North America and one of the largest in the world. How amaze is that? Complete with waterfalls, turtles, fish, and a jungle kitty, it really is a dream.
Get used to this magical cacti land, because you're going to be seeing a lot of it from now on! A couple months ago I didn't even know South Coast Botanic Garden existed, now I'm an annual member and plan on visiting/photographing it v regularly. Seriously, it's botanical heaven here. And right in Los Angeles! Palos Verdes to be exact. There are all different types of gardens here, but the Desert Garden is my fave. Cacti, euphorbia, aloes, and other succulent bbs of all shapes and sizes. Take a walk with me through this prickly dream land.
Having a Christmas eve birthday is a funny thing - bouncers, bartenders, and any sort of ID checkers always ask me, "What's that like?" Growing up, it had its plus and minuses. There was the occasional grouping together of prezzies ("This is for your bday AND xmas!"). Since school is obvi never in session on the 24th and everyone stays home with their fams around the holidays, I would sometimes get bummed I never got to celebrate with my friends on or around my day. But, having a Christmas eve birthday made the holidays and the month of December in general that much more exciting. Since I couldn't celebrate with friends the day of, my parties were always a few weeks before, which meant I got to prolong the excitement - a whole month of celebrating! And having your birthday the day before Christmas means a lotta cheer, prezzies, and CAKE packed into a 48 hour time frame. Fast forward to now and pretty much the same holds true! I don't usually go crazy to celebrate, I've actually gone years without having any sort of party because I know how busy everyone is during the holidays. But I wanted to do something this year, and I've been dying to experience the Venice Beach Barcycle - so I figured this would be the perf time to get some friends together to experience it with me.
There aren't many places that can truly make you feel like a kid again, but 29Rooms is one of them. I was lucky enough to get a sneak peak of this magical adult playground last week before they opened to the public - certain installments were actually still being constructed! Many thanks to Google & Refinery29 for letting me witness the magic. It was such a fun-filled afternoon! So many artists, activists, and visionaries contributed to this pop-up interactive experience, and the result is truly a magical, inspiring fun-house that really gets you thinking. I can't commend the creators enough for fusing activism, art, and technology all together! I wanted to share with you some pics of my fave rooms - especially since 29Rooms is only in LA for a couple weeks, and I know that (v unfortunately) a lot of people won't get to experience it for themselves. But if you do get a chance to go and explore, I can't recommend it enough. Go, go, go! All images taken of me were snapped by my friend Onelia :)
Pink pumpkins are a real thing and I'm HERE for it! Eddie and I went to the supes cute Mr. Bones for our pumpkins, located right near us here in Culver City. We went around dinner time on a week day which I would highly recommend - totally relaxed, not a lot of people. During the weekends I've heard it's packed to the gills. Plus, you have to pay an entry fee on the weekends - during the week it's free. Keep an eye peeled for celebs while you're there, it's a real hot spot in this town believe it or not! There's a lil petting zoo with baby goats, and lots of fun photo opps for the bbs (and adult bbs too) - I plan on going again this week and bringing my niece with me!
I finally made it to the Museum of Ice Cream - better late than never! Eddie and I hardly ever venture to Downtown LA, but the museum is in the super cool Arts District and it made me want to visit more often. MOIC is such a fun place! Filled with bright colors, awesome art, and they even give you ice cream and candy as you walk through each room. Yas plz! All the pink doesn't hurt either - the building itself is painted an amaze shade. But really, a whole museum dedicated to my fave food is pretty much heaven for me. And don't get me started on the SPRINKLE POOL! Keep scrolling to see all the ice cream fun.
I love me some mani-pedi treat yo' self days, but I have to admit I've been becoming a bit tired of the nail salons in Los Angeles. I've been to so many, in constant search of the one that gets it right on all fronts. Whether it's trying to just get in the door of packed salons, or overworked nail artists rushing to finish me so they can take their next customer, or the awful fumes from all the chemicals, or just rough and unpleasant experiences - something was always a little off at each salon I visited. The highest level of #firstworldproblems, I know - a very, very minor annoyance in the grand scheme of things, but still a problem I wish I could solve. Then came Tenoverten. From the moment I walked in the door, I knew this salon was special.
Oh how I love Malibu days! Such a gorgeous town, breathtaking ocean views everywhere you look and that amaze ocean air. It can be a bit of a trek from the rest of Los Angeles, but the drive up Pacific Coast Highway is worth it. Keep scrolling for a few of my fave things to do when in the 'Bu.
I fell in love hard with the mobile boutiques we saw while visiting Portland, so you can imagine how happy I was to find out we have our own uhhhmazing mobile store right here in Los Angeles! And wow, is it gorge. Beautiful Things LA is the creation of mother-daughter team Susan Forrest-Reynolds and Lucia Reynolds, who purchased and renovated a 1991 Bluebird school bus to create some serious mobile magic. I was so happy to be able to chat with Lucia when I visited the bus over the weekend!
So I am definitely, 100%, without a doubt, NOT athletically inclined. I hate working out and couldn't care less about most sports. The only sneakers I own are over a decade old and have hardly been worn. The closest I come to exercising is the occasional bike ride and some hardcore walking up and down Abbot Kinney Blvd while I shop - LOL. Yes, I'm definitely a lazy ass sloth. But every now and then Eddie convinces me to do a hike with him, as much as it pains me.
It's finally Cinespia season again - party time, excellent! For those non-Angelinos, Cinespia is an awesome organization that hosts screenings of amazing films in Los Angeles, the most popular series being their Spring/Summer weekly showings at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. What could be more fun than getting together with friends, dressing up as your fave movie characters, having a big ol' boozy picnic, and watching an amazing film at night in a cemetery?!
It's hard to believe the magical Point Vicente Lighthouse in Rancho Palos Verdes is only a 30 minute drive from where we live - the cliffs make me feel like I'm back on the east coast, somewhere in New England during a summer vacation. Just the fact that Rancho Palos Verdes is in LA County is kinda mind boggling! It feels so different from the hustle and bustle of the LA districts we frequent the most. Everything seems a bit more spread out, calm, and peaceful. That's one of the reasons I love Los Angeles, each part of the city is so different from the next. You could go surfing, mountain biking, and skiing all in the same day if you felt like it!
Los Angeles has this awesome event called CicLAvia where streets are closed down to cars and open for people to walk, skate, bike, play, and explore! Eddie and I try to always go when they have our fave route through Culver City, Mar Vista, and Venice. Apparently, it's the country’s largest open streets event!
Eddie and I visited the beautiful Palisades Park in Santa Monica this week! I love coming here, it's such a pretty place for a picnic or a stroll. The park is located right on top of the bluffs next to Pacific Coast Highway and has the most breathtaking views of the ocean. You can see for miles along the coast!
Thank you to Terranea Resort for hosting my stay. All opinions are my own - as always!
Tucked away above coastal bluffs on the Palos Verdes Peninsula you’ll find one of Los Angeles’s hidden gems - the stunning Terranea Resort. Eddie and I had the pleasure of a lil staycation weekend at this slice of heaven, and we fell in love hard. From the drool-worthy restaurants, the beautiful landscaping, and oh those ocean views - we felt so lucky to be able to experience such a magical place together. Sharing my photo diary of our stay below!