Paris March 2015 Updated

Mar 20, 2015

I flew out to Paris alone to surprise my BFF Aimee and spend my birthday in my favorite city!! She had no idea I was coming to visit her.

It was burning up in LA but only 40 degrees in Paris so I had to layer

Thanks for the best birthday present my heart! I’ll miss you and Liv.

I enjoyed flying Air New Zealand, the flight attendants were sweet and of course the safety video featured the Lord of the Rings stars.

There used to be a neighborhood called Surfridge here back in the 1920’s, LAX bought the land because it’s in the flight path

Au revoir Los Angeles!

The food wasn’t as tasty as Virgin Atlantic

I arrived the next day with a short layover in London. This is Aimee’s beautiful building

Luckily, she had an elevator for her 6th floor apartment

Seriously, her reaction is the best in history, sorry for her foul mouth but I find it too funny!

My first day exploring Paris alone while Aimee was in school.

I bought some toys for my baby at this awesome mall of toy stores. I wish I remembered the name, it was in the 2nd arrondissement.

Ever since Liv found a Calico Critter toy in Amsterdam, she has been into them hardcore. They aren’t as popular in the states so I picked up as many sets that could fit in my already full luggage.

I spent six hours wandering the streets, the weather was cold but all the walking kept me warm. I wore a skirt and no coat most days, it’s the California girl in me!

Most fountains were empty, I wonder if they only fill them in warmer months?

Mona Lisa by French street artist Invader

Such a cute all-girls school, I wish Liv could attend one day!

My iPhone cord broke so I had to buy a new one, how pretty is the Apple Store?

City Hall is always gorgeous, even in rainy weather!

I love the buskers in the Metro, I always feel like I’m in the film, Amelie

I’m sure I was the only person in Paris wearing yellow and taking Metro selfies, I’m a gross American tourist!

I was listening to Björk’s new album on my headphones all day and she kept popping up everywhere

French Invader was everywhere! I didn’t find any Banksy.

This guy was so adorable, he was my marker to find Aimee’s apartment

I took tons more of photos here.

I love Paris in the spring!!

Liv for Geronimo Balloons

Jan 3, 2015

Two years ago Anthony bought a lovely Geronimo balloon for my 36th birthday. While we were at her studio, Jihan asked to take some photos of Liv. Jennifer Young was the incredible photographer who shot Liv. Yesterday Antz and I cleaned out Liv’s closet and got rid of stuff that no longer fit but I kept my favorite dress of hers, a black and white striped Misha Lulu dress. I was in tears *is this just a Mom thing?* thinking of how much my little bebe has changed in two years. Her curls are so long now, her face is showing dimension, she tells us all the time that she’s not a baby anymore and I am finding it difficult to accept. I still remember this day like it was yesterday. Anyway, here’s the awesome photos Jennifer took of Liv for Geronimo.

Liv working

This photo is the best!! Her curls kill me

Thank you so much Jihan and Jennifer!!

2014: A Look Back in Pictures

Dec 30, 2014

This was a pretty rad year for our family. Two of the greatest things happened for me, Olivia was accepted into her French school and we took our AMAZING trip to Europe over the summer. I was super fortunate to attend Le Dîner en Blanc in Paris!! We took a few road trips to Palms Springs and San Francisco. I am in disbelief of how fortunate I am.

There were a few downsides this year, I didn’t post much about them on my blog but I touched upon them in this post. Overall, 2014 was awesome. I am super excited for the new year. I haven’t made a list of resolutions but I am hoping to stick to my Aspiration List. So far, I have already bought a new camera. I got so tired of complaining about the quality of my photos so I found a great deal on a Nikon D3300 dslr at Samy’s Cameras. Hopefully I won’t drop this one!

Here’s a look back at twenty fourteen!

We celebrated New Years Eve at Grand Park in Downtown LA

We partied on the Metro train

I updated my RAD Life List *and crossed off a bunch of things*

We ordered Olivia’s first passport

My dear *giant-headed* friends welcomed their beautiful daughter to the world

After years for searching, I finally got my Heath Nash It’s Beautiful Here coat rack

I became a member of LA Cake Club *and met new awesome friends*

Olivia worked her third Misha Lulu photo shoot *it was at a rad movie prop house*

Liv really loves these girls

I turned…uh, thirty seven!

Liv and I attended the second LA Cake Club

My bacon maple mini cupcakes were a hit!

This kid had a hoppy Easter

I scored at the Ban.do Fun Sale

My social media maven


We threw a Goodbye Party for Liv at her old Pre-school

We had a muy awesome Taco Fiesta in our backyard *which I had so much fun I forgot to take photos for my blog!*

I channeled my inner Wes Anderson for a look at What’s in the Bag? for our trip

We did some summer traveling abroad to London – Paris – Amsterdam

Liv took her first airplane ride

The flight attendants loved Liv

We stayed at my favorite hotel in the trendy, hipster Ace Hotel in Shoreditch

We had a rad photo shoot in Shoreditch with Lee Robbins

I cried when I got these photos from Lee *his photography looks like artwork*


I love this husband of mine *we’ve been together for eighteen years!*

Lee is my homie!!

We had the most fun during our photo shoot!

I almost killed everyone driving on the right side!

We ate authentic British Fish and chips

I did some Banksy hunting

We did some London siteseeing

Hung out with these dudes

Didn’t make him laugh

Antz pointed at a lot of things

We walked across London Bridge

We took a Black cabbie

We rode this guy

Ate like a local at a Street food fair

We took the Eurostar train from London to Paris

Settled into our lovely Parisian apartment

Had our first meal in Paris *best meal ever!*

This kid turned four

I think it’s safe to say she enjoyed her birthday

We marveled at the beauty of Versailles

Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette is one of my favorite movies

The most opulent place I’ve ever been

We visited Pere Le Chaise cemetery

Ate some yummy fondue

Drank wine from baby bottles

Shopped at my favorite store

We took a ton of photo booth pictures

Vandalized a bridge

Saw where Quasimodo lived

Visited Liv’s future university

Liv rode a million carousels

Found the best park in Paris

Saw a French film *actually it was Maleficent and it was in English*

Discovered that we could possibly live in Paris because of this

We had a very special date night

We attended the white dinner thanks to my friend here

Had dinner with 13,000 people on a bridge over the Seine

My handsome date!

The view was not bad!

The most magical night of my life

We almost forgot to take Liv to see this classic landmark

Cheesy tourists

Guess who rode their one zillionth carousel?

I never ate better in my life

We took a river cruise on the prettiest day

We said au revoir to France and took the train to Amsterdam

Amsterdam wasn’t gorgeous at all!

Antz tried Dutch beer

and we ate Dutch pannenkoeken pancakes

We walked for hours and feel in love with the city

We were in Amsterdam during World Cup, everything was orange

We visited the Anne Frank house


We stayed at the world’s coolest hotel


Antz tried two local favorites, beer and fries with mayonnaise

We spent Fathers day at the beautiful and enormous Vondelpark

Just as soon as we arrived, it was time to leave

But we had to bring home some Holland wooden clogs

So sad to say goodbye to Europe

We got a special tour of the cockpit

Here’s a video of our entire trip

We attended the coolest art show ever

Antz turned thirty NINE!

We pigged out on fried food at the OC Fair

We spent our twelve year wedding anniversary at The Parker hotel in Palm Springs

This kid learned how to swim unassisted!

I channeled my inner Heathers


I did some harmless local trespassing

Olivia had her first day of pre-school at her new French school

We took a road trip with my Mom to The City

We stayed at my favorite hotel chain

We ate at a Carnival theme restaurant in Hayes Valley

Mmm, donut breakfast sandwich

We shopped at the prettiest candy store in California


We braved the Seward Street Slides

//player.vimeo.com/video/105577036 Seward Street Slides San Francisco. Enjoy my Ungodly scream. from sunkissis on Vimeo.

I drove on the crookiest street in America

We oogled the marvelous architecture of SF

Liv and I went to our third LA Cake Club meeting

We checked out the Hello Kitty exhibit at the Japanese American Museum

I pretty much owned everything here back in the eighties

We met Lena Dunham at her book signing

Liv was Rainbow Dash for Halloween

I had the most random encounter with Patton Oswalt *whom I adore*

We attended Antz company Halloween party

We went trick or treating in Angelino Heights

I was inspired by these words and put together my Aspiration List

We had our annual Crabsgiving with my Mom

We spent Thanksgiving morning in the most colorful way thanks to Jihan

This sweet bebe grew soo fast

My dear friends of ten years moved to Portland *I’m looking forward to visiting them soon*

Liv’s beauty shined bright during her photo shoot with Jess Koehler

She is growing up to be an extraordinary person

These are Liv’s school portraits. This was the first time I wasn’t there when she took her class photos but I knew she would be fantastic.

This photo pretty much kills me. I know life with Liv has only been four years but I’ve never felt so much joy, so much fulfillment being able to spend my days with her and so much love for my rad family. I am so stoked for 2015. I know it will be another remarkable year!

Blondes really do have more fun!

Dec 29, 2014

Surprise! I got my hair colored!!

Here’s my *boring* before photo

I must admit, after years of bleaching and ruining my hair, I was nervous

My hair stylist told me to buy Olaplex which helps protect my hair from damage

My hair felt healthy and even after a trim longer than ever

Who’s that lady? So happy I went for it!

I love gooooooooold! I have always wanted to go blonde

Here’s my after, I love the transformation

I wanted to take my new camera out for some shooting so I took the kid to a store I’ve been wanting to check out called Sockerbit. Sounds like a computer shop, right? It’s Swedish candy store and very cool.

She wasn’t excited at all

I love colorful, foreign packaging

I am beyond happy with my new camera. It’s lighter than my old one, so much easier to use and this one has video function.

Too bad this awesome antique store next door was closed, they had so many interesting pieces.

I want that vintage French flag so bad!

I am looking forward to the new year and stepping outside of my comfort zone!!

Sockerbit Candy Store
7922 W 3rd Street
Los Angeles, CA 90048

Christmas 2014

Dec 26, 2014

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas. We spent time with family and I think we all got what we wanted from Santa. Although next year I’m adding a family trip to Iceland on my list. My friend Jennifer went this year and her photos are amazing!

Joyeux Noël

Liv and I made gingerbread people for the Big guy

Awake bright and early as usual

Pleased as punch with her gifts from her Aunt Debra

Liv got some new rad books. I have heard great things about BJ Novak’s book.

My Mom shared Christmas morning with us via iChat

It was awesome for her to see Olivia open her presents

I went a little Pop! Vinyl crazy but they are soo cute!

Huge Thundercats fan

Big Hero 6 was such a good movie

Hopefully he has enough socks now. I got most of these from Target

We are big Hayao Miyazaki fans

This is what you must get an artist

Our old Wii stopped playing games so I got a new Nintendo Wii Mini

Of course this means new video games, Michael Jackson Experience and Mario Cart

So much fun!!

Olivia’s piece de resistance her Frozen vanity

We watched A Christmas Story which I think is the greatest Christmas movie ever made

I won this incredible Moroccan wedding blanket in an Instagram auction, I LOVE it!

So today Liv is covered in nail polish and Frozen lip gloss. We are going through all of our shelves and drawers, cleaning out junk and throwing away as much as possible. I have a special surprise happening later today.

A bientot!

Jess Koehler Magic

Dec 17, 2014

I am speechless!

Officially my new favorite photo of Liv

Pippi!!

So good. Thanks Jess!

Liv’s Photo Shoot with Jess Koehler

Dec 11, 2014

Our kid is going through a major growth spurt. I mean, we just bought her new school shoes in September and she already has outgrown them! I went up a size for her Saltwater sandals, Converse and Vans in size 10s and she’s already fitting size 13! She is four and a half. I am concerned that she will be wearing adult sizes by first grade. Since I was updating her wardrobe *she outgrew all her Misha Lulu dresses and jeans over the summer* I decided to have some new photos taken while I’m at it. I reached out to a photographer I’ve been a huge fan of, the talented Jess Koehler. Jess is amazeballs! She and Liv got along fabulously. I took a backseat and left them alone to do their thing. I always get goosebumps seeing my kid work her magic in front of the camera. I am blown away by Jess’s photos.

Here’s all the shots I managed to sneak during the shoot.

I spent the past weekend searching for vintage oxfords for Liv. We scored this pair of awesome boys saddle shoes at Wee Soles *which is sadly closing* I love these pom pom tights I bought from Ladida.

It was so much fun playing stylist for the shoot

How rad are these dalmatian boots by Anais and I?? I’m telling you, my kid is so much more chic than me.

I accidentally styled Liv in a Scandinavian inspired look. Her embroidered shift dress is from Gap Kids *however sold out in girl sizes*. I also got this amazing sweater on sale which I am so jealous isn’t in my size!

Jess was a dream to work with, she so gets us, our aesthetic and sense of humor!

It was such a coincidence that the shoot happened to be on National Cookie day!

Have you ever met a four year old who doesn’t like chocolate chip cookies? Well, Olivia has made it clear she only eats white chocolate ever since we bought white chocolate petit écolier cookies in Paris. White chocolate also happens to be my favorite but I can’t seem to find those cookies with white chocolate in the States. So most of these cookie biting photos were staged.

I’m so excited to see the photos next week. I can’t believe how super fast this year has been. The saying is so true, “Time flies when you’re having fun.” I couldn’t be more happy and grateful for these moments.

Antz and I took some photos of Liv trying out her new Misha Lulu dresses in the backyard. This is definitely my favorite line of Karen’s and they are still available on her site.

Misha Lulu Nancy Drew dress/Vintage Hat from my new favorite store The Left Bank/Striped Tights and saddle shoes from Wee Soles

Misha Lulu Eddie dress/Knee socks from Target/Borrowed Mom’s glasses

So many fun holiday events are happening. I hope I have time to blog about everything! Happy Holidays guys.

Geronimo Confetti Surprise

Dec 4, 2014

I mentioned on Instagram that our Thanksgiving morning was pretty rad. Last week I got a text from my friend Jihan from Geronimo Balloons inviting us to a secret event.

She mentioned to wear clothes that can get dirty so my mind was swimming with messy scenarios: a massive food fight, paintball or even a secret graffiti party a là my hero Banksy! We arrived under a bridge in a part of downtown that I’ve never been before. We introduced ourselves to everyone and made our guesses at what was happening next. We all got in our cars and followed Jihan down a dark, scary tunnel (very dramatic) what happened next was pretty amazing…

What awaits us down this tunnel?

I’ve never been up close to the magnificent Los Angeles river

I love the architecture of this bridge

Jihan divided us into teams to compete Hunger Games style to fight to the death

First game; Pom Pom Passing, pretty hilarious (looks so pervvy)

My yellow team crushed the blue team 6 – 4!

Next up was some firecracker races (I didn’t get any photos) and Lastly was the main event… a fantastic confetti war!

We sprayed out ponchos with glue to ensure confetti insanity

Let’s say I was a confetti casualty

So glad we drove Antz truck

I kinda want to have a confetti fight everyday!

Confetti angel

It was really difficult to get Liv out of the confetti zone!

The “river” is surprisingly clean!

We then toasted our victory with lox, bagels and water

Merci Jihan, for unknowingly making one of my dreams come true!

Huzzah! What a great way to start the day. I can’t wait to find out what this incredible lady comes up with next.

PS Please don’t have a cow, the event was permitted by the city and we took care of cleaning!

Halloween 2014

Nov 3, 2014

Liv rocked her Rainbow Dash My Little Pony costume. This year was a rad one!

I bought the Rainbow Dash hoodie, socks and rainbow tutu from Amazon. The t-shirt is from Target. I am so happy she didn’t go as Elsa, there was at least 15 of them at her school!

I wanted to do something easy, comfy and pretty this year. I found this incredible make up tutorial and used my floral crown. Easy Peasy!

Before

I didn’t do my makeup as elaborate because I knew I was going to have a long day with many events so the minimal look worked best.

Oh Deer!

I went to pick up Antz Mom and her sister so they could come to Liv’s Halloween party at her school. I stopped by Starbucks for a caffeine fix and look who I happily bumped into…

Monsieur Patton Oswalt!

She was so excited to see them!

I made apple slices dipped in caramel for the party

This guy was a hit with the kids. I passed out Halloween stickers and the kids were equally terrified and thrilled by it.

Next stop with Antz company party which never disappoints.

Kim wins as Bob Ross “Happy Little trees guy”

Stupid Flanders

My favorite costume of the day!!

We dropped off Liv’s Grandma and Aunt and headed over to Carroll Avenue to trick or treat. Wouldn’t you know after months of a severe drought, it rained all night. We went to as many houses as we could before the downpour.

What a perfect and fun Halloween! Je suis tellement heureux, il a finalement plu.

Not That Kind of Girl

Oct 20, 2014

I have been anticipating Lena Dunham’s new book for almost two years now. I pre-ordered my copy in advance before the official release date. I missed out on the book tour performance dates for LA but she had a book signing at the Grove last Tuesday. I showed up early in the morning and was number twenty five in line. Lucky for me, my friend Christina showed up so we were able to catch up about her recent trip to Europe. We were given priority wristbands so when we returned at 7 pm, we would line up in the order of our wristbands.

The security dudes were hilarious. They definitely took their job too seriously so it was impossible to pose with her so all I got was this lousy selfie.

I was super nervous for some weird reason

How do you get a four year old to wait patiently in line without having a meltdown? Bribe her with candy of course!

Ugh, I know my photos are horrible but Barnes & Noble had some intense security and there was no photography allowed at the desk so I snapped that one on the down-low. The security was practically going to tackle me if I tried to take a photo so I turned the video on my iphone and you can hear the conversation I had with my new friend Lena.

Sorry, I know the video sucks but Lena is sooo sweet. I was so creepy and smiley. I never get starstruck but I was speechless. At least Olivia had the balls to talk to her.

//player.vimeo.com/video/109410009 Lena Dunham Book Signing from sunkissis on Vimeo.

She is the perfect balance of awkward grace and confidence and I love her even more. Buy her book! Not That Kind of Girl.