From Hollywood to Sweden

(This is our little amphitheater in town, what I like to call our version of the Hollywood Bowl)

I was raised in Los Angeles starting from when I was 5 1/2 (before that I had lived in NYC), and one can only imagine how strange it was for me to move out of a big bustling city to a small town in west Sweden like I did last year. I often get asked why I left LA for Strömstad (the town I live in now), and once I explain that it's because my now-fiancé is from here, people understand, but it is the number one question I get asked when I'm meeting someone new, no doubt.

I grew up in a suburb of LA called Valley Village (back when it was still considered to be North Hollywood), so the word "Hollywood" has always had a strong significance to me (not only because, fun fact!, my dad is an actor so I've grown up in the entertainment industry). I remember going on a summer trip to visit my childhood friend in Atlanta, Georgia, when I was 11 years old. Our moms had signed us both up for tennis camp (I played tennis regularly at that age), and on the very first day, as soon as the other kids found out that I was from LA, they immediately referred to me as "Hollywood" every single day for the next 3 weeks. I wasn't offended by it, but it made me realize that "Hollywood" was a special place to a lot of people, especially to people who had never been there and had always fantasized about it, like these kids at the camp. 

Do you remember watching the movie Hocus Pocus? I mean, who doesn't if you grew up in the 90s, but the main character (Max, coincidentally enough) went through the exact same thing when he moved to Salem from LA. The two guys he met in the cemetery on the way home from his first day of school teased him, called him "Hollywood" and stole his shoes. Luckily my shoes were never stolen, and I wasn't totally offended by being called Hollywood, but I always found it funny, and the older I get, the prouder I am of being from there. So when I saw this sweater on Joanie Clothing's website, I knew I HAD to have it.

Since moving to Sweden, I've discovered that I find the most comfort in surrounding myself with clothing and even home goods that make me feel connected to my old hometown, and that definitely includes this jumper. It's soft as can be, can be thrown on with a pair of denim and converse, or can be dressed up tucked into a skirt with a cute pair of flats like in these photos I'm sharing here! I plan on wearing it all spring and summer, and into the fall, too.

*gifted*

Link to the Oscar Hollywood Slogan Jumper can be found by clicking this link HERE

Hanging on the Telephone

The other day, I went exploring around Little Tokyo with my friend Karen of Little Sweet Thing, and we stumbled into the cutest boutique, where she found herself a purse in the shape of a tea kettle! I was looking around for something special myself when I locked eyes with the sweetest little telephone bag in pink (it came in other colors, too, but I couldn't NOT get the pink one)! I knew I had to have it. I love novelty bags and dresses, so this was right up my alley. As if I couldn't be lucky enough, I found this ADORABLE 60s print dress from a local shop called Matrushka. I love one-of-a-kind pieces and supporting local designers so much! I can't wait to wear this dress out more when the weather gets warmer. It's been mighty cold here in LA!

I love what the bag says, too! So fun. "I love to hear the sound of your voice!"

 

Dress by: Matrushka

Telephone bag is from: Miss Lady Bug and purchased at Kools

Far Away Places

Since Mad Men is coming to a close tonight (it's going to be a sob fest over here.. I already have tissues prepared), I thought it would be fun to venture out to some "Mad Men" locations yesterday with my good friend Karen of Little Sweet Thing (go buy her cupcake and macaron jewelry!) who kindly snapped these photos of me. I'm wearing my brand new Scottie Dog Dress from Unique Vintage which is on sale so grab it while it's still available!

Shoes are by Bait Footwear

Rod's Grill is located in a quaint little town called Arcadia, just outside of Pasadena. It's a diner that has been filmed many times, and was used for the episode "Far Away Places" in season six of Mad Men. As soon we stepped inside, we felt like we were back in time. From the bright blue booths to the 1960s chandeliers, we couldn't take our eyes off the decor, and the waitstaff were super friendly. 

These are some scenes from the episode below found on I Am Not A Stalker:

Karen and I were lucky enough to sit in the same booth as Megan and Don. Sadly, they didn't have any Orange Sherbet on the menu, so we ordered eggs and bacon instead.

There was a great stone wall right outside the restaurant so we snapped some fun pictures of my outfit there, and got some strange looks. In fact, people thought we were tourists! Once we explained what we were doing, they understood, but some had never heard of Mad Men. Crazy!

After we left, we found Don and Betty's house! On the show, the door was painted red, but nothing else was really changed.

Hope you've enjoyed my tribute to Mad Men with this blog post and the one from yesterday. If you're a fan, what has been your favorite episode, and who are your favorite characters? I want to know!

The End of an Era

I'm one of those people who gets into popular television shows reeeeaally late, and that goes for Mad Men, which I finally caught up to just a few weeks ago. I ordered Netflix one day in early April and blazed through six seasons in less than a month! I'm amazed at how long it took me to give this show a chance. I've always been such a fan of the 1960's and have paid homage to my favorite decade many times (such as when I dressed as a 60s go-go dancer at my Senior Prom in 2003) and I thought that it would be fitting to now pay homage to the best written TV show set in the 1960s - Mad Men, which airs its final episode this weekend. What better way to say goodbye than a trip to the one and only Beverly Hills Hotel aka The Pink Palace for some sunshine and a vanilla milkshake? <3 My good friend Amy of A Fashion Nerd snapped these photos, and I couldn't be more excited to share them with you now!

 

The Fountain Room is one of my favorite areas of the hotel. The diner is just one long counter top, with the beautiful leaf wallpaper cascading on all the walls behind it. I could imagine Roger having a cup of coffee here the morning after a rendezvous with a young lady the night before. Whenever I'm feeling like I need to feel like I've stepped back in time, this is the perfect place for that!

I just scooped up this Barbecue (!!) retro print dress (and cropped sweater) from my new favorite store Unique Vintage in Burbank. It's such a flattering dress and fits so well, and I love that the print is so, well, unique! The designer is Bernie Dexter, who makes many retro-inspired dresses that can also be found on Modcloth, another favorite of mine. The suitcase is vintage that I purchased at the Sherman Oaks Antique Mall, and my shoes are by Sam Edelman.

I brought along my favorite Elvis purse that I found on Ebay one lucky day. It's one of my favorite pieces that I own and I always get compliments on it! So fun.

The Cabana Cafe, which is located by the main pool, would've been a great place to meet Don Draper for a business lunch, only to be stood up and have Pete Campbell in his place (which, let's face it - I wouldn't mind one bit) :) In fact, I think there was an episode somewhere in there where that actually happened! Ha.

As I'm preparing to say goodbye to a show I only just got to know, I'm so grateful to have been able to do my part in paying my own respects to it. Janie Bryant, the show's wardrobe stylist, is a genius and I really think the show's success is not only partly due to the writing, but also due to her ideas and innovations. Every outfit worn, every tiny little detail painted such a picture for each character. I really feel like I know them all so well, just by seeing the subtle changes they went through during each year between 1960-1970s. My favorite character is of course, Sally Draper (she was SO gosh darn cute in the early seasons), but I also love Peggy, Pete, and Megan. And Joan. And Trudy. And Glen (the neighbor who asked Betty for her hair that one time)! And Meredith, Don's final secretary.

And I like Betty, too, as evil as she could be sometimes. Ahh, before I start crying I guess I'd better end this here. Mad Men, you were wonderful, and this truly will be the end of an era come Sunday night! <3

Hair by Marissa of Marissa Cydya (Instagram: @marissacydya)

Makeup by Laura Altamirano at Sephora in Glendale, CA (Instagram: @psychedelicsourceress)

The Beverly Hills Hotel

Dress purchased at Unique Vintage
Photography by Amy Roiland of A Fashion Nerd / Instagram: @afashionnerd

Elvis' favorite retro treats

It's pretty safe to say that if something has Elvis' face on it, I will probably buy it, and that includes this book that was published about Elvis' favorite foods with recipes and little stories about why he liked them. I've always been kind of obsessed with southern food (if I could eat biscuits and gravy every day I would, but I live in LA, and though I can find them here, it's just not the same, plus I'd gain a lot of weight if I ate them every day), and the fact that there is a recipe in here for Elvis' beloved fried PB & Banana sandwiches makes me so happy. I decided to make them and to accompany them with a batch of another one of his favorites: frosted chocolate brownies, and now all of the leftovers are sitting on my kitchen table taunting me. I guess that's not such a bad problem, really. But seriously, send help. Or just come over and take them from me.

I don't have any special tips for either of these recipes, mainly just that I decided to brulée the bananas for the PB & Banana sandwiches rather than just mash them up and pile them onto the bread. I also don't own a torch so i mashed them in a bowl, sprinkled them with sugar, and threw them into a broiler at 400 degrees for a while until they began to brown on top. As for the brownies, make sure your brownies are completely cooled before you frost them. I made the mistake of frosting them while still warm because I was worried about losing the light during the daytime, and now they look like an ooey gooey mess, which is fine if you like it that way, but it makes it mighty hard to cut them and make them look pretty.

Yum! I bought fresh brioche bread which made them a little elevated.

Hope you all enjoyed my little baking session! I want to try my hand at more of these recipes soon. Allll of the pies sound crazy good, and I wouldn't mind having some of that southern mac & cheese from the book, either.

Some recipes similar to the ones I used:

fried pb + banana sandwich 

frosted brownies

Memorial Day

This is the first Memorial Day that we've spent traveling. I thought it would be fun to get out of town for the day and drive to Palm Springs, which is only around an hour and forty minutes away, which isn't bad considering how far away other places are, like Vegas and San Francisco. I had originally wanted to go to the Madonna Inn, which I've been to many, many times (or at least, just in their lobby, gift shop, and restaurant), but we felt like it would have been a lot of driving (3 hours) for just a short visit around the hotel. We left the house at around 10:30, and got to Palm Springs at 12. Of course, the first thing that I always like to do when I hit the town, is to drive by all of my favorite houses - the ones with the pretty colored doors, retro gates and mailboxes, etc. I obviously never miss out on driving by the two homes Elvis lived in during the 60's-70's, the Honeymoon House and the house on Chino Canyon. So we spent the next hour driving around the neighborhood, snapping pictures left and right of the cutest and most interesting homes around.

{Elvis' Honeymoon House, aka The House of Tomorrow}

 

{Black & White}

 

 

{Orange + White}

 

{Marilyn Monroe's gorgeous black and white house. I vow to have a striped awning and striped umbrellas in my future home. Oh and just to give you an idea, this house was located behind Elvis'. Not directly behind, but if you go to the left of her house, you can see the backyard to the Honeymoon House. Pretty crazy to think they were such close neighbors!}

 
 

{Lime + White}

 

{Lime + Gray}

 

{Blue, White + Black}

{White, Orange, Black + Yellow}

 

As we drove into town to grab some food, I noticed that what is supposed to be the best vintage furniture store in town was FINALLY open! I had heard from local business owners that this was the place to find the best of the best, but that the owner only opened up the shop when he wanted to, meaning you never knew when it would be open. The last time we were there it was closed (on a Wednesday), and the guy next door had told us a story of a woman who had driven three separate times to the store from Los Angeles, hoping it would be open and it never was. The guy also apparently never answers the phone, making it hard for anyone to truly know. I felt really lucky, though that it was, and boy, it really was amazing.

  

 

After looking around for a while, we were just too hungry to concentrate, so we drove a couple of blocks up and decided to eat at Jake's. I took a picture of my dish but Chris' was much more photo worthy. 

{Chile + Corn Strata}

 Next we were off to the Saguaro to do some much needed lounging around. I was finally able to wear my Modcloth bathing suit for the first time! We sipped on lemonades, lounged on their yellow (very comfortable) chairs, and took a couple of swims in the pool. Can we go back, already?

 

 

{The couple sitting next to us at the pool told me I reminded her of Maryann from Gilligan's Island, which I have to admit was kind of cool to hear. So I did my best impersonation (though as you can tell, it was mighty hot out there, and I felt like I was melting by that point}

 After some much needed pool time, we headed into El Jefe to grab some margaritas during their happy hour, and chowed down on their skirt steak nachos which were as good as they sounded!

 

{No trip to Palm Springs is complete without a visit to Norma's at the Parker for their yummy pie shakes. I got mine with vanilla ice cream, apple filling + pie crust, and Chris' was caramel ice cream, banana filling + graham cracker crust}

 

Shops/Clothing Mentioned:

 Elvis' Honeymoon House

Dazzles

Jake's

El Jefe/Saguaro Hotel

Norma's at the Parker

Bathing Suit: Modcloth