Photo shoot with Lee Robbins

May 31, 2014

When I started planning our vacation, I knew I wanted to hire a professional photographer to shoot us. I think it’s a smart move so you don’t end up with photos missing a member of the family who ends up doing all the photographing *mostly me* and you have gorgeous photos as a vacation keepsake. I first fell in love with Lee’s photography after stumbling upon this sweet wedding on Pinterest. So a few months ago I contacted him on Facebook. We messaged back and forth and set up a date and time. Little did I underestimate the time it takes to get places in London. Even though we tried our best to hurry to the car rental place, we didn’t get out of there until after 2pm. I felt so bad making Lee wait for us but he was sooo cool about it.
We met at our hotel The Ace Shoreditch. He shot us like he was a dear family friend. He knew every single shot I wanted and made sure they were quirky and unique. We took shots all over Shoreditch *which is the raddest part of London*. I took some photos of the shoot with our camera but I can not wait to see the photos he took.

I bought this mask from Amazon. I LOVE Liv creepy bunny face!!!

Of course she had to jump on the bed

Let’s get weird!

We took a break in between locations for a drink at the bar downstairs

Fancy a drink?

Lee couldn’t stop shooting Olivia. He filled up a whole memory card with our photos

Wow, I am impressed with this lovely photo Antz snapped of Liv enjoying her lemonade

Cheers Mate!

I love how beautiful British currency is. America needs more women on our money!!

We made another friend in the lobby. Londoners are extremely friendly!

We found a Banksy right across the street from our hotel! In London, they protect his art with plexiglass from art thieves.

Liv really liked the poodle, she’s become a Junior Banksy enthusiast

Lee is part of the family now, it’s official!

He didn’t seem to mind me dorking out and was totally fine with my weird ideas

I adore Lee, he was such a sweet, fun and genuine guy!

Don’t we look like we just got married?

We had so much fun *I rather enjoyed walking around in a creepy ass rabbit mask* walking about, taking photos of all the awesome street art. Shoreditch is totally like the Arts District in Downtown LA. Like it used to be old, creepy and abandoned but now it has a new life full of young peeps, fancy hotels, restaurants and cool shops. I could live there.

I hope to get the photos from Lee in a few weeks. I only saw a peek of them during the shoot but the ones I saw gave me goosebumps. I can’t wait to be surprised with the amazing results. Thanks Lee, you are fucking brilliant!!

Away we Go!

May 31, 2014

We arrived in London after a wonderful, fun flight with Virgin Atlantic.

Smell ya later USA!

Ready to fly Antz?

Wait, shouldn’t this say first class?

Liv was so happy to wear her Michael Jackson top *an early birthday gift from her Ninos*

No one would suspect these happy shoes to be naughty

Yay! Time for $5 airport bottled water

That is quite the nose on you airplane

Where are you guys headed?

Is it time to go yet??

Elsa declares it was Princess boarding time

Here’s an important travel tip for your next flight. ALWAYS bring a gift for the flight attendants. I gave ours some fancy chocolates and they were stoked! Guess who was showered with extra in-flight goodies and given special treatment?

These guys!

And Olivia was incredible during the whole flight. She happily chewed her bubble gum *from her Godmommy Aimee* and she wasn’t scared during take off at all. Meanwhile, I had a tad bit of airline anxiety.

Nothing drinks won’t fix, Thanks Johanna!!

Goodbye Malibu!

Liv really enjoyed reading her new Frozen book. She kept herself occupied for most of the flight

Harry & Wills chose the beef stew for dinner

When you order lemonade in the UK, you’re getting a Sprite in disguise

I normally loathe airplane food but Virgin really steps up their service

Time for a Plane Pony Party!

Who’s ready for Europe??!! HELL YEAH!

Sleepy Panda

Woke up just in time to say Hello to Björk’s hometown!

Wow! Glasgow

All the flight attendants loved this kid

Thanks for getting us there safe and sound!

We took the Heathrow Express train to Paddington Station. I highly recommend spending the extra $10 for a less stressful and faster option for getting into London.

The train wasn’t crowded at all and we were able to put our luggage on a rack. We zipped into Central London in fifteen minutes.

This was my first time in a London train station, so I was in awe of everything

Paddington Station was so charming, I wanted to stay there for hours taking more photos but we had to rush to pick up our car rental. Holy shit, driving on the left in London was CRAZY!! It really takes some getting used to driving on the left side of the street and I only drove on the wrong side of the street once. A lovely group of guys outside of a pub yelled “WRONG WAY!” just before traffic killed us.

Packing for Europe

May 29, 2014

Our big trip to London, Paris and Amsterdam is one night away and I am so excited!

The husband finally finished packing last night. He’s always the last to pack but he’s the lightest packer. Everyone seems to think I’m over packing but even Antz couldn’t fit all his clothes and toiletries in his tiny carry-on. We were just about to buy this bag from Flight 001 *one of these days I hope to buy this guy* for him when he remembered I won a nice Samonite duffle bag from my old company at a Christmas raffle. At the time I won this bag, I was disappointed I didn’t win the ipod but boy am I happy we have it now.

There’s a separate compartment on the bottom for shoes and it has backpack strap and wheels. I found the cute luggage tag at Target.

I bought a voltage converter so I will be able to use my flat iron *I am praying it won’t break* and Antz made some snazzy luggage tags for me.

He’s such a minimalist

Herschel Supply Co Heritage Backpack

Homemade luggage tags *He designed them, printed them and I took them to Staples to get laminated, only cost $1.50 for 4!*

Apple iPhone/Apple Earbuds

Antz passport

Nikon D3000 SLR Camera

Gum *Olivia is super excited because she is allowed to chew gum during our flight so her ears don’t hurt from the pressure

Eyeglasses

Apple iPad

Ghirardelli chocolate *I bought some as a gift for the flight attendants

Aveeno Baby Daily Moisture Lotion *sometimes baby products work best for adults

My bag is also from Herschel Supply Co

I have a must-have list of items I can’t fly without.

Hand sanitizing wipes (as someone who worked for an airline before, wipe the plane’s tray before using).

Cozy socks so you can take your shoes off during long flights.

I can’t sleep without an eye mask (Target always has cute ones in the $1 aisle).

Aveeno Positively Radiant Face moisturizer

Travel size perfume Marc Jacobs Daisy rollerball

EOS lip balm (I like vanilla mint)

I always fly with a rosary (I’m Catholic so it’s obligatory)

I have this rad Rebecca Minkoff pouch for my makeup

Since I couldn’t fit the Nikon camera in my bag, I carry the smaller Nikon J1.

I packed a book I’m excited to read and a couple of travel journals for the long train rides.

I packed my Fuji instant camera in my check-in suitcase, nestled in between my clothes so it won’t break (fingers crossed)

I don’t fold my clothes, I roll everything to decrease wrinkles and save space. I also make a copy of my passport in case my original gets lost. I’ve had these Streetwise maps for a few years and I finally get to put them to use!

I hope I’m not over the weight amount for my suitcase. I’m an over-packer.

Today I picked up our foreign currency at the bank so now I’m ready to make it rain in the shops!!

Lizzie & Queen Elizabeth

I hope my talisman will keep us safe, I love mythical superstitions! Do you have any travel good luck charms?

Alt Summit Design Camp

May 23, 2014

As I mentioned, yesterday was insane. I woke up at 7am and did not stop until 7pm! I scheduled too much but I’m so glad I did everything I needed to. I really did not want to spend our vacation complaining to Antz about how I don’t know how to use my Nikon DSLR camera. I started researching photography classes because none of the YouTube videos I’ve watched were helping. I was looking for a hand-on experience where someone can tell me what I’m doing wrong *because really it’s either the equipment I’m using or it’s me!* Turns out Alt Summit announced a photography class taking place in Los Angeles. I was torn about signing up, I knew it was on Olivia’s last day of school so I would have to find a babysitter and I still had a long to-do list for our trip to complete. I didn’t want to take on too much. I decided, Liv can just stay late at school and I had to take this class so I would get the best results from my camera and end my frustration. I did a lot of hustling and the drive to and from Venice was stressful but I made it to everything on time and didn’t get any speeding tickets. I really enjoyed the class. It was taught by 20 year photographer, Tracey Clark and everything she said made perfect sense. She looked at my camera and determined it was my lens that was the problem and showed me the settings that would give me the best photo results. I learned about finding the natural light, depth of field and composition. This really has improved my photo shooting. I was happy to see my friend I met at the last cake club, Ellen was there too. I met so many wonderful bloggers and fellow amateur photographers. The venue was really cool. It was held at the Microsoft Experience loft on Abbot Kinney. Please forgive me, I was so busy chatting and snapping photos of these gorgeous florals, I didn’t take any proper photos of the amazing loft. I hope you can get a sense for how great the space was. The natural light coming from the skylights made it the perfect place to shoot. I was even able to drop by my favorite stationery shop, Urbanic. I am so happy I took the chance with this class. I can’t wait to apply my new techniques and tricks during our trip. This only confirms that I must go to alt summit in Salt Lake City!!

Bing, you have won me over with your vibrant florals


My favorite wine, Blanc de Blancs by Sofia Coppola

Tracey was a great instructor. I liked her philosophy that the equipment doesn’t have to be expensive to get the best results. She showed us how to use our iphone camera to take better photos. It’s all about finding the light.

You can almost see the incredible skylights in this photo

I had to grab that tiny Eiffel Tower. It was made with the Microsoft 3-D printer!

We received these mini collapsible light reflectors as a gift from Bing

I can’t wait to try my reflector out on Liv

I can’t believe I took this with my Nikon J1!!

Thank you so much Tracey, it was a pleasure meeting you!

So happy to see Ellen again! Thanks for the tips for Amsterdam

I headed outside with a new set of eyes and skills

I could spend hours in this shop

So I may have purchased something for Olivia’s 4th birthday *it’s ten days away!!*

#thanksbing

Olivia’s Frozen Going Away Party

May 23, 2014

Yesterday was nuts in a totally fantastic way! Not only was it Olivia’s last day at school but I had tons of errands to run for our trip. I spent an hour at the bank ordering foreign currency and then I put on my party planner hat. I’m sure if you have a child under the age of six, you know Frozen is like kid crack. I may not be the biggest Frozen fan but I love my kid so of course I threw a Frozen themed Going Away party for her class. Let me say, blue colored cupcakes are scarce in LA but luckily I found a baker who would airbrush vanilla cupcakes to look Frozen-esque. I searched every party store for weeks looking for Frozen party supplies but no luck. Finally, I checked the pinata/99 cent store on the corner and all that was left was a paltry bag of favors and a mylar balloon. At first I was all ambitious to make a huge Pinterest worthy craft project but you know what? I have too much going on at the moment so, I found her an Elsa crown and called it a day. As they say, let it gooooo!

The kids got kaleidoscopes, tattoos, rings and stickers. The boys were more into Frozen stuff than the girls

Liv and her bestie Sara

Liv was delighted to wear her Princess Ana dress to school and I played Michael Jackson during her party

Liv hugged me and said “This is the best party ever Mommy, thank you so much!”

Those crazy eyes and happy face are all worth it! I am so grateful for our two years at her school. We feel like part of a happy family and I know we will stay in touch with everyone. We handed out some parting gifts for the staff.

We made a cartoon of Mrs Crissy and ironed it onto a tote bag, she loved it!

Mrs. Crissy gave Liv a scrapbook filled with photos of her teachers and classmates. I cried when I read what she wrote in Olivia’s Oh! The Places You’ll Go book.

She is such an incredible teacher. I really love her. She is so rad. I apologize for my inability to form sentences, I am writing this a midnight so I’m very tired but I have an exciting post coming soon. Goodnights!

What’s in the bag?

May 17, 2014

Ready for more packing fun?! I finally got the backpacks I ordered from Amazon so I wanted to share my essentials for the trip. I’ll start with Liv since hers is the lightest. I have been wanting to get her a new backpack for her new school so when I found the Fjallraven Kånken *which means arctic fox in Swedish* I knew it was the one. It was hard choosing a color because of course Liv wanted pink but we wanted a more neutral color. I almost bought the mini version but I am glad I went with the classic. Liv is so tall and she can fit more stuff in there. I chose the ochre color and I really love it *I just may have to borrow it, Liv* Olivia is going through a transition from toddler to big girl, so she really likes having her own bag with her own things. Livs backpack

Fjallraven Kanken Backpack in Ochre

Urbanears Plattan headphones in Colbalt

Apple ipod shuffle *loaded with all her favorite Michael Jackson songs*

Frozen Little Golden Book

Paris coloring book *I had to get it when I saw it at Michaels*

Twistables crayons

Newsweek Michael Jackson special edition magazine

Harry & Wills the two-headed Dragon *purchased from this awesome store*

Eos lip balm in strawberry sorbet

Fisher Price digital camera *it holds 1,000 photos so she can go nuts!*

Fruit leather from Target

Organic Lavender & Orange Blossom Lotion stick *a gift from my friend Kim, smells so yummy*

Neutrogena Baby sunscreen

Liv’s passport

Funko POP Michael Jackson “Beat It” Vinyl

Here’s my backpack

Liz backpack

Herschel Supply Co Backpack *mine was filthy but a trip to the dry cleaners has it looking brand new*

SkullCandy headphones

my iPhone/Ban.do case

The Fault in our Stars *so excited to read this on the plane*

Bon Voyage Travel Journal

Wandering Paris

My Passport

Marc Jacobs Honey Perfume rollerball

Aviator glasses *I buy cheap ones from Anthropologie since I break/lose them so often*

Rebecca Minkoff P.Y.T. Pouch *I keep my lipsticks in here*

Aveeno Positively Radiant Daily Moisturizer Broad Spectrum SPF 15 *this stuff has changed my complexion for the better, I use it everyday*

Eos lip balm in Sweet Mint *I used to swear by Rose lip salve but the container is hard to open and my last one melted in my bag*

Nikon J1 camera *just had it repaired and cleaned*

My rosary that smells like roses Aimee bought me from the Vatican *I travel with it everywhere*

Orla Kiely for Target bag *I keep socks in there and my eye mask so I can sleep*

Kleenex Wipes *I have a three year old, I’m never without these*

*I may have to add a small umbrella

Also in my backpack:

Our itinerary, vouchers, hotel info

Copies of our passports and drivers licenses

Streetwise maps

Streetwise makes my favorite maps. They are laminated and small so you don’t look like a lost tourist and they are easy to find landmarks, museums and public transportation. Another packing tip I found was to take photos of everything in your luggage so if it gets lost, it easier to file a claim.

I am going to Flight 001 this weekend to buy luggage tags and a voltage converter for my flat iron.
Of course Antz hasn’t packed yet because…well, he’s a boy and he works full-time so I’ll add photos of his backpack hopefully soon. What are your must-have travel essentials? Did I forget anything? I will pick up some snacks at the airport and my electronics/extra batteries and cords are in my laptop bag.

Our Taco Fiesta

May 11, 2014

Our last party at home was our bebe shower four years ago!! I have been wanting to have friends over for a BBQ before our trip. The more I planned, the more I got overwhelmed with the idea of cooking and then I remembered how great the food was at our friend’s party. So I called their caterer and was surprised at how affordable hiring a taco caterer was. I made fresh lemonade and cucumber spa water, put up some decorations and voila, our party was ready.

For the last few days I’ve been searching locally for peonies but I guess they are late this season so this morning I headed to the downtown flowermart. Bad idea, the day before Mother’s day is the worst time to be shopping for flowers. The roads were closed, traffic was at a stand still and this was at 8am! I lucked upon a parking spot and stepped over the dude sleeping on the sidewalk to walk the three blocks to the flowermart. I have never seen that place so crowded before. You would think they were giving away flowers but everything seemed to be double the price. Horrible tacky roses were everywhere. The good news was I found peonies, the bad news was the same bunch I would normally pay $6 from Trader Joe’s was now $20. Oh well, I shopped around and found a pretty bunch for $15 *all the pros know how to find the flowers at a discount* I fell in love with a bunch of mini daisies and was in and out in under a half an hour.

New bedding makes me so happy *I love my Alexandra Ferguson pillow I received as a gift from Leslie*

Thank you Fancy!

A giant balloon and a giant Ban.do pouf are a girls best friend

Thank goodness the weather cooperated. It was sunny enough without being too hot. Everyone relaxed and ate tons of tacos.

I enjoyed myself so much I hardly took any photos, I did manage this shot of the peppers cooking, which no one was able to handle their hot.

Liv was a party animal

I bought my lemonade dispenser two years ago, so happy to finally use it

I made this banner out of scraps of fabric and Liv’s old baby clothes

Tomorrow I’ll take a better shot of my Oh Joy for Target vases

Chris just cannot keep his clothes on! Nice Cthulhu dude.

Veda stole the show with her adorableness

I tried my best to catch a Veda smile

Merci to Letty for taking care of all the cooking. Contact me for her number, she’s wonderful! Big hugs and kisses to all my lovely guests, your presence was a pleasure and I am so happy to have such rad people in my life. What a perfect way to start Mother’s Day.

*Special thanks to Kim for making the tastiest sangria, everyone loved it!

Great photos Ana!!

Misha Lulu Spring/Summer 2014

May 9, 2014

Back in February, Karen and Joe shot Liv for their new Spring/Summer line in our backyard. I was so excited to see donuts featured since it’s our favorite treat.

You can shop the line at Misha Lulu site. This is the biggest we’ve ever styled her hair.

The Lollipop tank


The Donut Tank

Brown Sugar shorts

Cali Skirt

I am so excited for the Fall/Winter 2014 line to launch!

Here’s the kid trying out her new Urbanears headphones. We love them!

She’s wearing her new backpack but I’ll take more photos of it during our trip

Have a lovely weekend.

Pack Rat

May 3, 2014

I have been running around like a chicken with her head cut off preparing for our trip. I hope to have everything done by next week so I won’t have any last minute surprises. I am trying to stay uber-organized because this is the longest trip we’ve taken so I am packing our entire lives. Not really but I did a preliminary pack last week and it turns out my clothes, shoes and toiletries didn’t come close to fitting in my tiny carry on suitcase.

I’m trying to follow this example I found on Pinterest. Although I don’t think I will fit eight shoes in my suitcase!

Luckily, I can borrow one of Antz suitcases and use my carry-on for Liv’s clothes and other stuff I couldn’t fit into my bag.

We bought this 4-piece Swiss Gear set from Nordstrom Rack for only $99 back in 2005!

I am wearing my heaviest clothes and shoes on the plane

I am trying my best to condense my packing list but it’s harder than it looks. So far I’ve got:

Suitcase

4 pairs of pants

2 pair of jeans

4 dresses

3 shorts

5 skirts

3 blouses

2 cardigans

3 sweaters

7 tops

2 scarves

1 trench coat

Pajamas/socks

Underoos

Clutch/Tote

Makeup Bag

Hair products *still unsure if I’m bringing my flat iron

Ban.do Accessories/Jewelry

8 Pairs of shoes *I know, I need to cut this down to five!

Laptop bag

Laptop/Cords

iPad

Adaptors

Extra chargers/Batteries

Backpack

Wallet

Passport *bringing extra passport photos

Itinerary folder *it’s 10 pages long!/Travel vouchers

iPhone/Headphones

Sunglasses

Umbrella *I hope it doesn’t rain

Nikon J1 Camera

Eos lip balm

Water bottle

Camera bag *we may put this guy in Antz backpack

Our heavy, giant Nikon DSLR

Extra lens

Cords/Batteries

Aye yi yii! My suitcase is bursting at the seams. I am praying we don’t get charged for exceeding the weight limit. I don’t know how I will be able to bring home any souvenirs. I’m sure I’m forgetting something, I always do.

I have been ordering things online like crazy. I got a new backpack for Antz and Liv *so excited for hers to arrive next week!* and we needed this Apple travel adapter kit. I also ordered some cute sandals I couldn’t resist that were on sale for Liv. I have a few more things I’ll share later.

So after two weeks of drama with finding a place to rent in Paris, we got our apartment!! I can’t believe our luck. It’s super cute and affordable and the host seems really sweet.