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Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Home Sweet Home pt 1

I've been meaning to do this for quite a while! I have a unique living situation, and people are always fascinated by it. So I thought I might as well give a tour of it here. My boyfriend's parents re-designed their house into a true castle (it took ten years to build) from what was once a ranch-style house, and it is gorgeous. I am so happy to live here. Though, sometimes I get a little antsy to decorate my place more with my own style, I can't help but appreciate all of the special details that makes this place truly unique and special. Enjoy!


{Front of our two story "tower" loft}




{View of our dining room table from our front door. I love our little fake Christmas tree. It is the perfect centerpiece.}
 

{View of our kitchen from our fireplace area. I am very selective when it comes to what goes on our fridge! Right now is a promo poster from the show New Girl, a photo booth souvenir from my boss' daughter's Bat Mitzvah, an Islands poster (one of my favorite bands), donut + Beatles magnets, and heart stickers. }


 {Our stove/oven. Fact: We use our stove often. It is powered by a pilot light, which is pretty cool. The oven is used for... storage! (we store our cereal boxes in the top drawer, for example). I know, it seems crazy to not use it to cook, but this oven is so old and so simple that it would be really hard to tell what the temperature is. I still need to find a cute way to display our spices. To the left is our microwave that we barely ever use, and paper towels.}




{View of our chandelier, pantry and front door. That piece of artwork hanging is actually very large and is a tie-in to my boyfriend's mother's Italian heritage. Love it so much.}
 

{Our fireplace and organ. This is constantly a work in progress. We don't have a lot of space for a bookshelf, so the top of the organ is holding most (or all) of our tiny book collection, magazines, and random knick-knacks.}


{I love our fireplace. We take full of advantage of it when it's cold here in LA, which to most people is not very cold at all. We're wimps. But nevertheless, it's a big comfort to me and I am so happy to have one.}



{Our fireplace wouldn't be complete without dragon sconces. They're our little tower mascots!}
 


{Our bed. It is basically the most amazing bed in the entire world. Comfortable beyond belief!}


{Just some of the detail on our bedframe}
 

 {My most recent apartment purchase, our custom portrait by PaperPlants! I love it so much, and it looks so good on this wall. It's really hard to find the right artwork for our walls, which is why they are always so bare. This is also where I keep my collection of nail polishes, jewelry, perfume, and current reading material (pictured here: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn). I have had that jewelry box for as long as I can remember. It means a lot to me. And of course, my Casio keyboard that was given to me at work. I love this part of the apartment so much.}
 

{A view of our spiral staircase and my dresses rack. This rack has done wonders for us. We have a pretty big dresser (not pictured) that isn't very handy for dresses, and is filled to the brim as it is. So I thought of getting a garment rack and boy, what a good idea. I love being able to look at my dresses and pick out what I want without having to open the dresser every time.}


{I spy our spiral staircase and our cat, Ringo, peeking away at the camera. This staircase leads up to the other half of our loft apartment - it's the messiest, which is why it's not pictured in this post. We watch tv up there, and it is also where we do our computer work/record our music, listen to records, etc. I will show this some other time, I promise!}
 


{The bathroom! I love our bathroom, but it is not easy to take pictures of. This particular photo is of our mirror, and you can also see our stained glass window.}
 


{A shot of the design in our shower}




{Another challenge: My shoe rack! I don't know if you can tell but it is bending way over to the side. These Target shoe racks are not meant to hold the amount of shoes that I own, clearly! This is a work in progress as well. I will one day find one that is cute and that looks like it fits in our castle-themed apartment. You can kind of see our giant dresser next to it, and front and center is my side table. It is where Ringo eats. Not an ideal place, but we're used to it, and I don't use it for anything else!}
 

Monday, April 29, 2013

Trying a New Look

When I visited the Etsy craft fair the other day, I instantly fell in love with this red rose headband that I purchased. I knew right away that I'd have the perfect outfit for it, too.  I originally bought this dress at Urban Oufitters in 2010 and wore it for my cover band (Icicle Alley)'s first photo shoot and I'm amazed that it still fits! It has the perfect "bohemian vibe" with the cut of the dress, and the lace keeps it delicate which I like. So far this is the only outfit I can picture myself wearing the headband with, but I'm sure I'll find more inspiration soon with all the cute new things coming out for spring and summer.


Sunday, April 28, 2013

Crafted LA + Ojai

This weekend has been action-packed full of fun. We started out our weekend by enjoying red wine and the BEST chocolate chip cookie baked in a skillet at my favorite local restaurant, The Old Place on Friday night. Yesterday, we took a trip over to Crafted LA where I met my favorite etsy seller, Karen, of Little Sweet Thing! We hit it off instantly and of course I had to sweep up more goodies for my now ever-growing collection of dessert jewelry. During our visit, I also picked up the sweetest floral crown headband and rose headband from another etsy booth. Overall, it was a great time and I definitely plan on going to more of these! After the event, we drove into Silver Lake for a friend's fiesta themed birthday party (not pictured) complete with a taco bar, serve-yourself magaritas, and a piñata. Such a great time.

Saturday's activities:

Pretty cool art installation inside the Crafted LA warehouse


It's me and Karen from Sweet Little Thing! I still can't believe we have such similar ice cream cone phone cases! We were meant to meet!


Taking a trip over the Vincent Thomas bridge as we exited San Pedro. I love the color!

Sunday's Activities:

I've been wanting to visit Ojai for a while, so we decided to take the drive today, and as it turns out, we only live an hour away! Of course we had to stop for donuts on the way (my favorite breakfast pastry), and then we were on our merry way.


Wearing my adorable new donut ring, holding my favorite donut, the old fashioned! What's your favorite kind of donut?


Knead Baking Co. is delicious! We ordered their potato flatbread pizza and added a fried egg on top. I was in heaven.


After we walked up and down the main road in Ojai, we decided to stop off at the Ojai Valley Inn and Spa to see what it's all about. I visited there with my family when I was little, but I don't remember it very well. Needless to say, I would definitely stay here now, in a heartbeat! Who wants to come?

Outfit:

Dress: Anthropologie   |   Denim Jacket: Forever21
Pink flats: JCrew   |   Floral Headband: CraftedLA
Bag: Topshop 




Obligatory trip to McConnell's in Ventura for some ice cream


Love the old retro vibe of this motel. 

Thursday, April 25, 2013

The Cat's Meow

As most of my friends and family know, I love cats. I have my own little furry guy named Ringo, and whenever I see a cute cat t-shirt or accessory, I grab it instantly. That is what happened when I first laid eyes on this adorable cat dress from Romwe. From the see through polka dot top to the big bow in the middle, I was sold. I just got it in the mail today and I don't want to take it off. It's definitely my new favorite dress!


{still feeling super excited about my new John Lennon ring I bought on eBay!}


{also obsessing over my new Macaron earrings from Little Sweet Thing}


Outfit:

Dress: Romwe  |   Bag: Topshop   |   Earrings: Little Sweet Thing
John Lennon ring: eBay   |   Clear Jelly flats: Gift from Brazil

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Mini Outfit Post + More

Here are some photos of what I've been up to lately, including an outfit I wore over the weekend. I re-discovered this old dress and knew instantly that my cat shirt from Forever21 would be perfect underneath it. I added an old Anthropologie skinny belt and some silver flats to match, and voila! I also had to wear my new donut earrings, courtesy of Little Sweet Thing on Etsy. They are so adorable! I also got pink macaron cookie earrings as well. Check out Karen's shop for your fix of cute sweet jewelry and other accessories!



Outfit:

Dress - No idea! I just found it in my closet last week
Shirt - Forever21
Belt - Anthropologie
Silver Flats - Nordstrom
Earrings - Little Sweet Thing on Etsy


                      {weekend staple: a trip to In N Out for their animal fries, burgers and shakes}



{playing around with a giant paper flower that my boss' 9 year old brought home from school last week}


{watching my favorite movie "help" by the beatles. it never gets old}





Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Cake In A Jar

I've always loved the idea of eating cake straight out of a jar, so I knew I had to try to make it. This recipe is the same that I used in my recent Strawberry Milk Cake post, only this time I added blackberries instead of blueberries. I must say, for my first time I didn't do such a bad job! There is something pretty spectacular about being able to eat cake right out of a jar, being that it's an on-the-go snack or dessert. I definitely plan on making these again, in different flavors/fruit combos, and in smaller jars (such as the small one pictured on the bottom of this post). And the process is so simple! You bake a cake, punch out a circle with a circle cutter, lay it in the bottom of the jar, then spoon in a layer of frosting, then a small layer of fruit, then go back to the cake and repeat the process until you reach the top! Have you ever had cake in a jar? What is your favorite way to eat cake?