Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Vintage Circus Glamour

Barnum and Bailey Showgirl in a bunny costume. I love the pink giant bow.
Birthday girl. Circus show performer receives flowers.
Show Performer Lottie Burnn juggling. 
Circus couple.

Halloween is two days away and here I am trying to come up with a last minute costume. It seems like every year I have aspirations to dress in a vintage circus themed costume. I always find myself looking through Taschen's The Circus: 1870's - 1950's book over and over again. It is an incredibly beautiful book. Each page translates history with nostalgic images and art work, and makes me feel like I am there watching The Greatest Show on Earth. Check out this beautiful three and half minute documentary on The Circus produced by Taschen, click here.

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Lately on Instagram

My pictures on Instagram. This pretty much sums up my life as of lately.

1. My dog Edison got a new hat, can't wait to try it on him.
2. Relaxing at The Hoxton in London. One of the best hotels I have ever stayed at.
3. All the bottles of Amaro that we brought back from Italy.
4. Edison's first trip to the dog beach in Huntington Beach.
5. The last time I went to the Rose Bowl Flea Market. I do regret not buying one of these French Dolls.
6. Another vintage treasure I found somewhere in my recent travels.

Monday, October 21, 2013

My Roman Holiday

It's hard to believe that I was in Rome four weeks ago. I am definitely having major withdrawals. I absolutely enjoyed my time there so much that I can picture living there one day. We traveled to a few places in Italy, but Rome was by far my favorite place, for various reasons. The food, the historical sites, the museums, the people, the music, and all the noise.
A friend of ours said to us, "Being in Rome is like being in a giant museum", and he is absolutely right. On our first day there, we decided it do the whole touristy thing, I mean, I had too. You can't go to Rome and not visit the Colosseum and The Roman Forum. They were breathtaking......
Another touristy we did was visiting the Trevi Foundation on our third day in Rome. It was beautiful, but it was very hard to take pictures there because of the large crowds. It started to rain after leaving Trevi foundation, luckily we made it to our hotel before it started to really come down. It was so romantic to walk the streets of Rome in the light rain, I felt like I was in a scene from a Fellini film.
I was charmed with the all the street musicians at every Piazza. I posted a video of this musician on Instagram, you can watch it here. She was playing right in front of the Phantheon, which you must visit if you ever travel to this city. It is considered to be the most influential building in ancient Rome.
As usual, you can always count on me to take picture of my drinks. Here is a picture of the ultimate classic Italian cocktail. I can't even tell you how many Negronis we had in Italy, but these were by far, the one of the best ones. We really enjoyed these cocktails and food at Romeo, which was located in The Vatican City. We stopped by after visiting the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel.
Every other apartment/house had plants and pots hanging from their windows. Cute, right?
We stayed at two great B&Bs in Rome. My favorite one was Esedra Inn located in the center of town. Our place was a fifteen minute walk to the Roman Forum, which was perfect! The Esedra Inn was exactly what we wanted, the rooms were comfortable, the breakfast was good and the staff was very friendly. It is considered a luxury guest house, but it was more affordable than most places we looked at. I  would highly recommend staying here to any future travelers visiting this city. 
Romans look so stylish in their colorful vespas. I had urge to jump on one and take it for a ride around the city. They are easy to rent too! I guess that adventure will have to wait til the next time I visit again. 
For some reason it was very hard to find open restaurants on Sundays, especially for dinner. While researching for good restaurants that were not touristy, we tried to stay away from those, I stumbled upon Katie Parla's blog Parla Food and found a great restaurant called La Gatta Mangiona. We loved this place. Although they are known for their pizzas, we loved their pastas and crocchetta di palate.  
Our four glorious days in Rome ended too quickly, so quickly that I can't wait to book another trip really soon and experience the magic all over again. Time flies when you are having too much fun!

Here is my recommendations of places to stay, eat and drink.

Hotel:
Esedra Inn Rome


Restaurants: Food & Drink
La Gatta Mangiona
Romeo
Pizzarium (The owner is known as the "Michelangelo of Pizza")
Flavio al Velavevodetto
Trattoria Da Valentino
Cafe Greco





Friday, October 11, 2013

Charlotte Gainsbourg: Tomboy Style

One of my favorite things to do on rainy days is watching foreign films and drinking rose tea, which is exactly what I did the on the other day while it poured in Los Angeles. Somehow I found myself watching Charlotte Gainsbourg films. Not only do I love her as an actress, but who doesn't? I am also a fan of her music, she's a brilliant singer/songwriter. That's not all, she is a well respected style icon! Her tomboy style is flawless and by that I mean, this girl really knows how to mix the chic and tailored look. I am loving the button up shirts, classic stripe shirts, dark jeans and minimal jewelry. She is currently my source of style inspiration for fall.

Images: 1/ 2/ 3/ 4