California has had a pretty crazy year what with the fires, flooding, and extra rainy winter. But the result of all that is something truly spectacular - a beautiful wildflower super bloom. Right now throughout Southern California there’s a floral explosion happening! Hills, deserts, and canyons are covered in beautiful poppies. It really is magical!
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 can’t get enough of this bronze shade lately! It’s so earthy and gorge, don’t you think? I always feel good wearing this color, I just love how it pops. While Eddie and I were visiting Vista we took some photos at our Airbnb wearing my new fave dress by The Odells in this shade. Funny story - we actually got in a bit of a bicycle accident the day before these pics were taken, so I was limping around with a swollen knee and scrapes in between shots bahaha. Pretty pitiful, but funny in hindsight - and the scenery was too gorge not to capture! :)
I can’t get enough of this rich, dreamy shade of blue lately. It’s so classy and understated, but still makes a big impact. I wanted to share two of my go-to holiday party looks this year, both featuring navy. I also rounded up a bunch of gorge navy pieces from some of my fave brands, to recreate these looks for yourself.
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.
It's my fave time of year! Summer always makes me happy. Warm nights, pool parties, road trips, and bbqs - I'm alllll about it. I love the laid back, fun-loving vibe in the air - seems like everyone's living their best life during these months. I wanted to share one of my fave types of summer outfits, perfect for any of your summer activities - relaxed and comfy, but still cute and stylish. Made complete by these gorge Sperry loafers!
By now you probably know that comfort is key when it comes to my style. I do love to get dressed up and throw on a pair of heels every now and then, but my day to day outfits consist of mostly flowy, loose pieces paired with flats, sandals, or boots. This two piece look has got to be one of my comfiest outfits to date! Plus I can never resist this camel color, I lob it so much.
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.
One of my fave places to hang during golden hour is Fisherman's Village in Marina Del Rey. Eddie and I like to walk along the waterfront and check out all the boats, pelicans, and seals (!!), then we grab happy hour food and drinks right on the water. The view as the sun begins to set is so gorge! While I was getting ready for our most recent viz, I thought this would be the perf place to wear my brand spankin new Sperry shoes.
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.
I usually travel to my home state of New York twice a year to visit family and friends, but this last trip was my first winter visit in a while! I hate the cold so I try and avoid those harsh winter months. Living in Los Angeles has spoiled me with the year round beautiful weather, but one of my good friends got married in NY on St. Patrick's day and I def couldn't miss it. I thought it would be fun to show you how I transition outfits from LA to NY, so I partnered up with MATTER to style one of their gorge outfits two ways.
Eddie and I always love going to Manhattan Beach - it's only a short drive from us but feels v different from the usual LA scene. A gorge, relaxed beach town with the most beautiful houses! Wanted to share a few pics we took on a stroll through the neighborhoods during golden hour xx
The weather here in LA has been all over the place lately - one day I'm wearing a tank top, the next I'm bundled up. Even though I'm a warm weather year round lover, I do enjoy a chillier day here and there around Christmas. You know I love me some cozy vibes! But of course, "chilly" is relative here in forever-summer land. I grew up in New York and lived through some nasty winters, however almost a decade living in Southern California has spoiled me. And I'm not the only one! Us Angelenos complain about the "cold" any time the temperature dips under our usual 75 degree sunny weather :P
Okay, don't kill me but the Free People dress I'm wearing in this post isn't for sale anymore - I KNOW, bad style blogger!! But tbh I don't think you need to wear only current, new pieces to be a style blogger - I bought this dress last year and I love it, so I'm wearin it foreva people, bahaha. But the point of this post isn't this particular look, it's about finding the most fab dress that fits your vibe for that upcoming holiday party! Whether it's with fam, friends, or co-workers, I've gotcha covered. Keep scrolling to see all the boho bests that will keep you twirling the night away.
Eddie and I took a long overdue trip to the desert last week to relax, recharge, and celebrate our 6 year anniversary (where does the time go?!). We'd been to Joshua Tree a few years ago to camp with friends, but it was only for a night and we definitely didn't experience it fully. I've been wanting to return to really explore the town ever since then, and I'm so glad we finally were able to. With JT only being around a 2 and half hour drive from Los Angeles, it really is the perf place to escape to when you need a breather from LA life. Come take a little tour with me of where we stayed and what we did while we were in this desert paradise.
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.
It's the first day of September and even though it's still technically summer, I'm diving in head first to fall colors. My current obsession is sienna, a beautifully rich combo of brown, orange, and yellow. I love the earthy feel to it, and I'm especially digging this shade on my Free People Kimono. The tie dye pattern gives it that extra boho feel, and it's super soft and flowy which is always a plus for me.
Before Eddie and I left for SF to attend Outside Lands Music Fest, I had all these big plans of checking out shops, restaurants, and monuments in the Bay Area every morning before the fest. Bahahaha. Delusional! What actually happened was that we were so exhausted every morning from the previous day, we woke up super late and of course had no time to do anything except shower quickly and head back over to the fest. So I condensed my long list of amaze recommendations into my absolute must visits, and we hit them up on Monday before driving back down to Los Angeles. Keep scrolling to see some of the best spots we checked out!
Still coming down from the amaze weekend we had at Outside Lands Music + Art Festival in San Francisco! Any event where the setting is the gorgeous Golden Gate Park is A+ in my book. Our first time at this fest was last summer, Eddie and I only went for 1 day and we loved it so much we decided to do all 3 days this year. We were able to meet up with a bunch of friends there too, it was super fun running around and dancing with them.
Last week Eddie and I visited our old stomping grounds for some Laguna Beach fun! I went to college in Orange County and my friends and I used to love exploring this gorge city in our free time. Eddie was born and raised in Orange County, so it's his home. Even though we're still super close being in LA, (just a 50 minute drive south from us depending on traffic) I hadn't had a Laguna day in years. Crazy! I think it's easy to get comfortable where you live, so much so that a lot of times you'd rather stay local than drive a bit - especially with our SoCal traffic. I've been trying to take a lot more day trips this summer though, to get out of our lil West LA bubble.
As much as I love Los Angeles, it's so nice to escape the city every now and then. Traveling and exploring new places is my favorite thing to do, but it's not always feasible - which is why I'm so in love with day trips! No need to pay for pricey hotels and flights, small little getaways tame my wanderlust (for a bit, anyway) and make me happy. I'm lucky to live in Southern California, a place filled with cute towns left and right. Ojai happens to be one of those cuties!
Yellow is quickly becoming my fave color to wear! This fun Cotton Candy LA dress is so perf for summer, I just love the ruffles and flowiness. It's crazy to me that up until recently my entire wardrobe consisted of mostly black - I've really been trying to wear more color this year, and I'm kinda hooked now! Keep scrolling to see more of this pretty dress, gorgeous Venice neighborhood, and a round up of my fave summery yellow dresses.
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.
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!
I'm in love with how green and lush Portland is! Such a beautiful city, with trees everywhere. It actually reminded me a lot of upstate New York where I'm from, tons of trees on every street. I sometimes forget how much I miss all that green. Even though I love our LA palm trees, there's something so magical about green, leafy forests. Maybe that's why I felt such an instant connection to Portland - it made me feel like I was back home. When I found out there was a Portland Japanese Garden, I knew I had to visit.
You guys, I finally made it to cactus heaven. I've been wanting to visit the magical Moorten Botanical Garden for a while now after seeing so many glorious photos on Instagram, and I have to say it's even more stunning in person! We were greeted by Clark Moorten when we arrived, the son of the garden's original creators and now the curator himself - he gave us a little map of the grounds and off we went!
COACHELLA! Another year of amazing music, yummy food, and good times with friends. My legs were so sore from 3 straight days of dancing and running around the Empire Polo Club where the fest is held - it's actually still a lil painful to walk right now if I'm being honest. So here I am, thankfully sitting, rounding up my fave memories and highlights from the weekend.
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!