Dîner en Blanc Los Angeles 2015

Nov 29, 2015

Last year we waited and waited to hear the announcement for Los Angeles Dîner en Blanc but never heard anything. Lucky for us, we were able to attend the DEB in Paris. This year I figured they would email us some time during the summer but we didn’t hear anything by August. So, I planned on not going this year *which would have been a nice break for us since we have been so busy* and we planned out trip to visit Story & Chris in Portland. Of course two weeks before our trip, the email came in. Dîner en Blanc was coming back to Los Angeles just a few days after our trip.

It turns out that last year they weren’t able to secure an alcohol permit and there’s no dinner with booze. So when I was asked to be a group leader again for the second dinner in LA, I couldn’t say no. Since this was our third year, we pretty much had everything we needed. For some weird reason, I can never do things the easy way. Honestly I find easy to be boring, I’m a risk-taker. So, even though I have several white dresses in my closet, I asked my Mom-in-law to help me sew a handmade tulle skirt to wear to the dinner. I had two days to pull it off and it was miserably hot. Liv had just started kindergarten so I only had time to work while she was in school and after I picked her up. Thank goodness for my amazing Mom, who helped me pull it off. I bought 80 yards of fabric *which I had to cut about 200 rectangles* and no matter how much we layered the skirt I could still see right through it. I ended buying a white petticoat to wear underneath.

The morning of the dinner I went to the Flowermart but nothing was in season that I planned to buy. I finally decided to try something different and bought a white piece of driftwood and LED lights. I also couldn’t resist a bunch of lovely orchids. They were pricey but they held up well in the heat. They looked great in my swan vase from Anthropologie.

Antz and I made our guesses to where the Dîner en Blanc would be held this year. I said Grand Park in Downtown since it’s large enough and a perfect nighttime venue. Antz thought it would be at Santa Monica Pier or the 3rd Street Promenade. As we were driving on our bus, I was pretty sure I was right since we headed towards downtown.

Turns out I was close! We arrived at Pershing Square right in the heart of downtown LA.

The end.

The BRO-Duh Museum

Oct 3, 2015

I know I spelled Broad wrong in my title but for the strange sake of fancy people wanting to sound fancy, The Broad rhymes with road but you’ll never hear me say it like that. I say Broad like fraud, like an American! Anyway, the highly anticipated Broad museum opened in downtown LA a few weeks ago. I signed up for online reservations in early August and the earliest opening I could get was October 1st. We have been excited to check it out since the building itself looks like a piece of art. It’s hard to compete when you are across the street from the famous Walt Disney concert hall designed by Frank Gentry.

Obviously this was her favorite room

Olivia took this photo of us. She’s getting good with her composition.

My favorite Jeff Koons piece

Antz wanted this art

Murakami is one of my favorite artists. I was so bummed when I missed his show at Versailles.

All the batting my lashes and pleading didn’t get me any Murakami plushies

There is such high demand for online reservations there is almost a 2 month waiting list. I definitely would like to return since we didn’t get to see the Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirrored Room.

The Broad Museum
221 S Grand Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90012

My Best Friend’s Wedding

Sep 25, 2015

My BFF, Aimee has never wanted a big, traditional wedding. Luckily I talked her out of eloping in Las Vegas, she choose to get married at the Beverly Hills Courthouse.

After an unfortunate disaster at the dry cleaners with her first wedding dress, we found the perfect Bianca Jagger inspired romper suit from Nasty Gal. Aimee bought some pretty gold buttons from Mood fabric store and had them sewn on the romper and she found the cutest gold brogues online. Her veil was custom made from Etsy.

I made her bouquet which featured her favorite flowers, daisies and Billy balls for a punch of color

FYI: The Beverly Hills Courthouse only schedules weddings on Wednesday and Friday

Gorgeous Bride

Olivia wore a navy blue boy’s suit from H&M, a plaid bow tie from Crewcuts and saddle shoes (sans socks) from Footmates.

We put her curly hair in a top knot and added a few springs of baby’s breath.

How is she this tall at five years old?!

The bride & groom have the same taste in 80’s rock music, French history and passion for traveling

The groom and maid of honor were having a serious conversation

New family

Liv was stiff as a board during the ceremony, it was pretty funny!

Antz and I were the witness signers

Married folks!

I couldn’t resist confetti bombing the newlyweds with my Thimblepress Push-Pop confetti

Even though the temperature topped 100 degrees we all enjoyed this love-filled day. The créme de la créme was taking photos of the happy couple in front of this perfect street mural in Los Angeles.

Congrats BFF!

Antz decorated Aimee’s Fiat, so cute!

The photographer was a talented friend of ours, Brian Averill. Jet’aime BFF! Happy Wedding.

First day of Kindergarten!!

Sep 22, 2015

As soon as we made the long, long fifteen hour drive back home from Portland, we had the busiest week of our year. Olivia went back to school and boy, Kindergarten is so much different than Pre-K.

We used to have priority parking in the school lot but now it’s a struggle to find parking. Luckily, we arrived early enough to find a spot. No longer can we go inside the classroom to drop her off and see what she is working on or chat with the teachers. I would sign her in and class begins ten minutes later than the rest of the school. Now she gets dropped off outside in the Kindergarten playground without signing in. We can stay and watch the kids play but on the other side of the fence. Her teacher doesn’t come out until it’s time for them to line up and go to their classroom. Also, no more naps! So, less teacher interaction and everything they work on is a mystery until I can dig it out of her. I had no luck with asking “How was your day?” so I’ve been using these questions to get more than “Good” as her response. The good news is she is already speaking much more French than last year!

I can’t believe she still fits these shoes I bought her in Paris back in March

You can see Liv’s first day of Preschool 2012, 2013, 2014.

She had a lovely first day even in 100 degree heat. We took her for ice-cream after school.

She got too hot so the socks came off!

Day trip to Astoria, Oregon

Sep 14, 2015

Our kid is really into my dvd collection from the eighties. The original Annie, Beetlejuice, Legend and The Goonies are her favorites. I must say, The Goonies is the perfect kid’s flick, a treasure hunt, pirates and Cyndi Lauper! Liv has inherited my good taste in cinema. I told her about the city where the Goonies was filmed and all about the awesome child actors. We knew we had to make a day trip to Astoria on the northern coast of Oregon to see the film locations.

We had to grab some donuts for the road since I missed out on Voodoo the day before. Blue Star Donuts is Portland’s best kept secret, well maybe not so secret. Lucky for us there was no stupid, long line or crazy expensive parking since it was in walking distance from Chris & Story’s house.

Olivia was always looking for her pal Blueberry the cat

Umm, are Toni & Candace working in there?

We will definitely try this place on our next visit

Antz attempted to eat my donut

I love phone booths!

We stopped by the kid’s shoe store Clogs N’ More. I could’ve stayed there for
hours but we had to hit the road.

Can you believe that after what happened in Santa Cruz Olivia asked if we could ride this guy?!

We took a crazy beautiful scenic highway with only one lane to get there but the view was
worth the two hours of curves and slow trucks.

We have arrived!!

This building is from the opening scene of the Goonies. We followed this film location tour

Yep, I have no shame in my cheesy tourist antics

Goonies never say die!

This goregous Queen Anne Victorian was owned by sea Captain George Flavel. It’s right across the street from the Jailhouse.

We walked around town, everything looked like a movie set

This creepy house belonged to George Conrad Flavel (those Flavel’s owned most of Astoria!)

I am all about abandoned houses with a spooky story behind them. I didn’t tell Liv the gruesome details about this house but she said it looked haunted! Someone has now bought it and plans to restore it to it’s original beauty.

Veda was like, it doesn’t scare me!

The town of Astoria is extremely charming but also has a creepy element I love.

This store wins at common sense!

Astoria-Megler Bridge connects Oregon to Washington state.

We had lunch at this restaurant on the pier over looking the harbor.

We could see Washington state from our table.

So the big attraction of Astoria is of course, the Goondocks, the house filmed in the movie. For thirty years this house has been a welcome attraction for tourists to come and take photos. Well, my bad luck curse struck and just a few days before our arrival, the homeowners decided they had enough of disrespectful folks intruding on their neighborhood. So when we drove past the house we found this…

It’s hard to feel sympathy for these guys since they knowingly bought a famous house. However, I do understand that people suck and are incredibly rude and ruin the experience for others!

I guess they got sick of people doing the truffle shuffle

Even with the tarp and signs, there were still a lot of people visiting the house.

We were bummed but we still had one more stop before we headed back to Portland, the Astoria Column. A beautiful 125 foot tower with the history of Astoria drawn into a spiral column with an observation deck. However as we approached, the tower looked different. As soon as we made it to the top of the mountain I knew it, the tower was closed for renovations! D’oh!!

We were grateful for the stunning views

Oregon is the land of millions of trees and bridges

We drove around downtown Portland looking for the famous Portland neon sign

Antz and Chris had a bro-date at a soccer game downtown. Story and I drank wine while the girls watched the Spongebob movie. It was a long but epic day.

Portlandia Day Two

Sep 9, 2015

Our second day in Oregon was incredible. We enjoyed lovely, mildly warm weather. We loved the food, the friendly vibes and the gorgeous nature everywhere you look! I swear we walked into a living Subaru commercial.

Friendliest cat we’ve ever met

Olivia snapped this awesome photo

I did some research for our trip and I found out that Portland is all about that brunch.

I had so many great options to choose from but when I saw Slappy Cakes on the Food Network I knew we had to try it! Story & Chris have been wanting to go there too but there is always a crazy long wait. We checked out a cool vintage video store while we waited to be called. It’s ridiculous how many great movies we’ve missed in theaters because we don’t go as often, but when faced with thousands of DVDs to choose from, all we could decide on is The SpongeBob Movie for Liv and Veda.

We parked near a food truck lot. There are incredible food trucks (and trailers) everywhere!

Brunch Time!

Here was my order, buttermilk pancakes and fresh blueberries

You guessed it, it’s a cook your own pancakes restaurant

https://player.vimeo.com/video/138588044 Slappy Cakes Portland from sunkissis on Vimeo.

Liv requested a snail, I ended up eating it

Obviously, this is my pancake, it broke during the flip

Pancakes de la Totoro for Antz

Our next stop was Multnomah Falls to take in the beautiful local nature.

Aren’t these photos insane? I didn’t have to edit anything.

I’m still in denial she’s five years old!

So pretty! I love this place.

We also checked out a fish hatchery where we saw a 100 year old sturgeon named Harold. We headed to downtown Portland for donuts at the popular tourist attraction, Voodoo Doughnuts.

We only had a few minutes on our parking meter and the line was ridiculous so we passed on buying anything. Story assured me she knew a better donut place closer to their house.

Every single thing that Carrie & Fred make reference to on Portlandia is 1,000% true!

We finished the day with dinner at McMenamins Kennedy School which is an old school renovated into a hotel, venue and restaurant. I heard they have an insanely beautiful soaking pool but it was closed to the public due to a private event. I took these photos of almost two year old Veda being adorable outside on the patio.

I can’t tell you how much I’ve missed our dear friends. So far we are convinced we are moving to Portland!

Our Epic Road Trip: Portland Day One

Sep 8, 2015

Despite our hotel forgetting to give us an early morning wake up call, we hit the road by 7 am for the eleven hour trek to Portland, Oregon. I went to Portland in my teens for basketball camp and all I remember is TREES EVERYWHERE!! If there is such a thing as a tree phobia, beware! Antz did most of the driving so I could read my new book, Go Set aWatchman by Harper Lee. I love how she dropped her sequel fifty five years later, so gangsta! I love long scenic road trips but by our eighth hour in the car, we were getting restless.

It’s sad to see how bad California’s drought is

I read most of Go Set a Watchman. I don’t know yet how I feel about it, it’s starts off strong but I fell asleep a few times.

Our first stop was in Eugene which is home to the University of Oregon. We needed gas and was shocked to discover that it’s illegal to pump your own gas in the state of Oregon. We found out the hard way that it’s unnecessary to give them a tip so we ended up having to go in the store and get change for the guy.

Another fun fact about Oregon, there’s NO SALES TAX!! Believe me, I was very happy to discover this, only we had so much planned, I had very little time for shopping. I did squeeze in time to pick up a pair of shoes for Liv but next visit, I will be ready! We arrived at our friends Story & Chris’ house around 6pm. Story told us we just missed a major heat wave. Yay! we were happy to move into their adorable attic guest suite. Their house is insane! We both had similar little 2 bedroom houses in LA but their new house is three times the size of ours. They have three stories and live in an awesome neighborhood. They walk everywhere. We settled in and walked to their version of Highland Park’s York Blvd for dinner.

Olivia made friends with every cat in the neighborhood!

I’ve missed these faces terribly

The tacos and sangria were muy bueno. Seriously, DO NOT go to Portland because you will never want to leave!

Our Epic Road Trip: Santa Cruz

Sep 7, 2015

We have been wanting to visit our friends Story & Chris in Portland since they moved up there last year. Since our wedding anniversary was coming up, we decided to take a road trip for a week and broke up the fifteen hour drive in two days by stopping in Santa Cruz overnight. I heard about a steam engine train ride that goes through the the redwood forest in Felton, CA so we were all over that. We waited until dusk to hit the Santa Cruz boardwalk since it was so hot and crowded. Liv had so much fun, and luckily no one was bitten by any Lost Boys!

It was only a five hour drive to Santa Cruz so we arrived fairly early.

Next time we’ll have to taste some artichokes

We couldn’t tell what these workers were picking (could it be artichokes?)

The sweetest cats lived in the general store

It was interesting to see how this old steam engine train is still operated after all these years

The redwood trees were majestic, Liv has never seen trees that tall

A storm destroyed the old train tracks.

At the top of the mountain, the train stopped so we could get out and explore

As soon as we got back to our hotel, we changed clothes and headed to the boardwalk. It was Retro Night so all the rides were $1.00! This made Liv very happy so we rode everything we could. Here’s the problem, I was really excited to ride the Sky Glider. Any ride that is mellow and I can take in a view is perfect for me. However, we left Liv’s jacket in the car so Antz went to grab it and I wanted to ride the Sky Glider before the sunset so Liv and I went on together. Everything was cool until we noticed the height kept going higher and higher until we were both very scared. I tried hard to play it cool but my poor baby was in tears. I kept trying to make her laugh but my heart was pounding. Every time the bucket we were in passed a tower it would bump us so hard I internally freaked out. So I tried my best to distract Liv and take a few photos until it was over while Olivia covered her eyes. I was sure I would drop my camera but fortunately, I managed a shot of Antz happily waiting for us below. Never again will I subject us to something like that. In the end, it was worth the view but I found out I wasn’t supposed to take photos during the ride!

See, it doesn’t look so high from here

We love the pirate ride

Too bad Olivia wasn’t tall enough for the swing ride!

My face of fear, sort of

Poor baby, she is not enjoying it at all. I did manage to get her to smile

Nothing some cotton candy won’t fix

Who knew Totoro loves fried chicken?

These were massive doughnuts

https://player.vimeo.com/video/138539413 Santa Cruz Boardwalk from sunkissis on Vimeo.

Liv drove her own bumper car. She did incredibly well!

I was hoping this Wurlitzer organ would play the same music from The Lost Boys. For the record, I watched The Lost Boys approximately 86,000 times in the eighties.

Olivia insists we take these cheesy photos, so do not blame me!

The Orange County Fair

Sep 6, 2015

It seems we have started a summer tradition of going to the OC Fair. We bought our tickets early in June however my poor Antz came down with a horrible cough after we went to San Diego for ComicCon. So, we had to postpone our day at the fair until he was feeling better. It actually worked in our favor since we had a brutally hot July, we chose a Friday in early August to go.

She’s tall enough to ride alone now!!

https://player.vimeo.com/video/138539605 OC Fair from sunkissis on Vimeo.

Hercules the World’s smallest horse

What pretty donkeys (is that the pural tense?)

How do you say Moo in French?

Next year, we are definitely going after dark, it was a million degrees!

Learning computers

Sep 4, 2015

Hey There,

So I’ve officially had this WordPress blog since 2011, yet I never really had a clear grasp of how to use it. I’ve been so used to Blogger but also frustrated about their limited functions. Since I’m in the middle of taking a Blogshop (at home) class, now is the perfect time to start posting. Antz made my rad header so I can’t take any credit for that but I am learning how to edit the shit out of my photos so I’m going to post a few random events from this summer. I’m really having fun with Photoshop!