Entre Nous.

Behind the Scenes

September's installment of 'Behind the Scenes' highlights one of my favorite ladies, Laurie, a graphic designer at Dum Blondey Designs based in LA. Laurie and I met in London, of all places, two summers ago. We bonded over a harrowing experience with our other besties (Sara and Marisa) on the Metro in Paris (ooh la la).

 

Collects Anything Crafty especially vintage brooches and buttons

 

Admires Strong independent women, Gwen Stefani is my girl!

 

Daydreams To travel all over

 

Guilty Pleasures watching really bad Lifetime movies. Simply Fabulous!

 

Weekend Pursuits as little as possible 

 

Libation of Choice White Russians are pretty fantastic

 

Coffee or Tea Coffee but only the fancy Starbucks variety 

 

Blooms of Choice Peonies and orchids

 

Favorite Book This is so hard because there are so many for so many reasons. The Great Gatsby always stands out

 

Where I’d Rather Be At the beach especially Cannon Beach

 

Lipstick or Gloss of the Moment I wear lip Gloss most, I really like the Clinique Chubby Stick in Two Ton Tomato

 

Nail Polish Du Jour I am a nail polish connoisseur. I'm obsessed with any O.P.I color. I have over 50 colors

 

Scent I love Stella by Stella McCartney

 

Style Icon Sara Jessica Parker (classic) and of course Gwen Stefani

 

Can’t Leave the House Without My Phone and lip gloss

 

Pending Vacays I wish I had some... Hopefully New Orleans

 

Social Media of Choice Instagram, Pictures are always the best way to tell a story

 

Crushing On Ryan Gosling, Chris Hardwick and Prince Harry. I know I have eclectic taste in men

 

In addition to being at the helm of her own design company, Laurie is also a head maven over at Newport Cottages. Their Beverly line of furniture is TDF, so posh.

April showers bring May flowers

I am beyond obsessed with the British reality show Made in Chelsea. I first discovered it when the Style Network started airing previous seasons a few years ago. Unfortunately they only aired a few seasons before that was that. After literally scouring the interweb, I discovered where I can view past and current seasons. The show is so over the top in the very best of ways. My favorite character though by far has to be Mark Francis. He always spouts out the best gems.

And on that note, happy May Day!

I <3 LA

I've been reminiscing of late about the good times had in Los Angeles last month. Since a proper post about the trip was never written, I thought this as good a time as any. The trip was a reunion of sorts with a group of girls from Southern California that my friend Sara and I met while traveling in London and Paris a few summers ago. We bonded as a group over some rather hilarious (after the fact) predicaments we got into while abroad. We had intended for this reunion to take place much sooner, but life got in the way, as it's want to do.

So let's jump right into the good stuff...

Sprinkles happened.

                   

Literally we went straight from a pickup at LAX to Beverly Hills. And after a quick bite at Nate 'n Al's (bagel & lox) it was on to Sprinkles Cupcakes AND Sprinkles Ice Cream, which happen to be side by side to one another. It was all about the cupcake ATM. Literally the most brilliant invention. I saved the maple bacon cupcake I snagged from the ATM for the next morning, but the salted caramel ice cream in a red velvet cone had to be devoured on the spot, obviously. Both the cone and cupcake were beyond.

                   

Even though a couple of the girls live in Southern California, we decided to book a vacation rental through Airbnb (house porn) in West Hollywood. It ended up being a central location and gave the girls a chance to have a staycation. Though the buildings exterior of the vacation rental we selected wasn't exactly what I envisioned, the interior of the apartment was accurately represented and turned out to be the perfect size for our group.

  

Oh, and while in Beverly Hills I posted a photo on Instagram of a wall of succulents at a juice bar near Sprinkles and Jessica Alba not only liked the photo but left a comment too! So I had a definite moment over that occurrence. That evening we had dinner at El Coyote, an establishment Heidi and Spencer were known to frequent in their Speidi heyday. 

Summaries of days two and three to follow...

Wanderlust

At the start of each new year I like to take a look back at where I ventured throughout the previous year. 2012 predictably took me back to Savannah, twice. Then unpredictably took me across the pond to England and France for a whirlwind ten day experience abroad. Then it was back home via Toronto and Vancouver. I'm starting 2013 off with a trip to Salt Lake City, UT and Park City, UT for Alt Summit and Sundance respectively. Then on the agenda for the rest of the year is Savannah (naturally), NYC, LA, and...? One of my resolutions for 2013 being to travel more to new destinations.

February

Savannah, Georgia

June

London, England

Bath, England

Paris, France

Toronto, Canada

Vancouver, Canada

October

Savannah, Georgia

Paree

Le Pont des Arts (“Bridge of the Arts”) in Paris is a lovely pedestrian bridge crossing the Seine that links the Louvre's Cour Carrée ("square courtyard”) and the Institut de France. It is also commonly known to Parisians as Le Pont des Amoureux or Lover’s Bridge. Couples have taken to attaching padlocks to the bridge then throwing the key into the river below, as a romantic gesture. So it's fitting that Le Pont des Arts is the bridge where Carrie and Big rendezvous in the final episode of Sex and the City. Though I haven't yet finished describing the London leg of my European adventure, here's a little taste of Paris.