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

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Miami Week

This picture pretty much sums up my trip to Miami last month. Clear skies & beautiful palm trees.
I definitely spent more time at the beach this time around. I was just happy that I was able to soak up some sun and go the beach in my Marc Jacobs one piece floral swimsuit. I feel in love with it immediately and decided to live in it my whole stay there. 
There is something lovely about this lifeguard shack, it must of be the colors.
One of our last days at the beach. . . . . . . . . .
As I mentioned before on an older post, for some reason the color pink always reminds me of Miami, it must be all the Florida flamingos right? I love these hotel buildings. The color, the architecture and how they look like they are hovering on top of these palm trees. They feel nostalgic. 
The Viceroy Miami is my favorite hotel to stay at. The only drawback is that it is located in Downtown Miami, which is about a 25 minute taxi cab ride to the beach. On the other hand it is perfect if you just want to experience the night life.
This is the first picture I took after checking into my hotel. Isn't she lovely? She looks like sitting on the edge of the pool. The buildings in the back are the perfect backdrop to this picture too!

Here is a list of some really great places that I would recommend for future Miami visitors.

Hotels:

Restaurants:

Bars:
Blackbird Ordinary






Friday, August 16, 2013

Have a Fancy Weekend

What are you guys up to this weekend? I plan to relax and explore my city. Sometimes I spend half of my day daydreaming and wishing that I lived in New York, but then I realize that Los Angeles is such a great city. There is always so much going on and it's hard to keep up sometimes.

I hope you enjoy your weekend, here is a list of fun things to do.

Paradise Theatre, a STYX themed speakeasy is closing tonight. If you're a cocktail connoisseur like I am, you would really enjoy this place. Details and password info on the link above.

In the mood for a free outdoor flick tonight? Head over to Pershing Square. Tonight they are screening Yellow Submarine.

The Helmut Newton exhibition is still running at Annenberg Space for Photography.

Have you been to Lady M Confections? My husband brought me a slice of their famous crepe cake yesterday and it is to die for. This is definitely on my list to do this weekend.


Image via Ann Street Studio.

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Miami Beach

I am so excited to be traveling to Miami this week. I've only visited Miami once and that was about four years ago, so it's been a while. I don't know about you, but I always have a hard time when it comes to packing for my trips. I always end up over packing or taking the wrong things, but this time around I searched for inspiration on Pinterest before I started packing away. I found most of my inspiration by looking at pictures of a more nostalgic Miami circa 1950's and 1960's. As a kid I always associated Miami with Flamingos and the color pink, I must of stumbled across way too many vintage Florida postcards on one of my many flea markets sprees. I love the color palette of these pictures, they are soft, happy and still fresh. I can't wait to post my Miami diary pictures upon arrival, in the mean time follow me on instagram to see my daily posts.

Images: 1/ 2/ 34