LACMA Rain Room

Dec 4, 2015

I was so excited to hear that the Rain Room exhibit is coming to Los Angeles. I was so bummed I missed out on seeing it at MOMA in New York a few years ago. I bought tickets for the earliest date which was a month in advance. Olivia always gets excited to visit LACMA so she happily ran around the Urban Lights exhibit and wrap herself in spaghetti noodles (I don’t know the name of that one!) Of course I am reminded of the last time we were there for the incredible Stanley Kubrick exhibit nearly three years ago.

It was impossible to get her to leave the noodle display!

We arrived an hour earlier than our Rain Room reservation so we meandered (such a great word I don’t use enough) through the Japanese screen exhibit and checked out the beautiful Matisse.

Liv got soaked! They told us to move slowly, she didn’t listen.

This photo was a happy accident, I was trying to get Liv’s silhoutte but I got her profile instead. This child is effortlessly stunning.

#rainroom

Across the street from LACMA is the Wende museum which has an exhibit of segments of the actual Berlin Wall. Liv and I have been studying US Presidents so it was fun to discuss JFK and Ronald Reagan.

I think she loves her new Bobo Choses skirt. It’s hard not to buy all their rad clothes.

I wish I was half as cool as Liv is at five years old.

The rain room will be at LACMA until March 6th. Reservations go fast so get your tickets today!

Los Angeles County Museum of Art
5905 Wilshire Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90036

A bientôt!

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.

Olivia’s Wonderland UnBirthday Tea Party

Jun 7, 2015

Our kid turned five this week. Every year feels bittersweet. Liv is growing up so fast and I miss my four year old already!

We threw her very first unbirthday party last Sunday at Vincent Lugo Park. Since we are used to spending her birthday out of town celebrating on a small scale, we needed to hire someone to help us plan and organize la fête. We wanted a fantastic experience for Liv and her guests but also to be able to hang out with the adults (and keep our sanity) while the kids were entertained. I found Alice’s Traveling Tea Party on Pinterest. Of all the Disney films, I’ve always loved Alice for it’s silliness and whimsical characters. Of course Liv is all about the princesses, particularly of the Frozen variety but every single birthday party we’ve been to has done that theme. Alice is rad for so many reasons, she’s able to solve her problems, remembers to be polite and lets her imagination soar. I mean, she’s not perfect but I love her sense of curiosity and adventure. So I began searching for the perfect Alice costume for Liv and was surprised to come up empty at the Disney store. I wasn’t fond of the cheap polyester costumes on Amazon so I was stoked to find a custom made dress and eyelet petticoat on eBay. I was a week from it being shipped when I got an email from the seller telling me she tripped on her ironing board and possibly broke her wrist. Just my luck, she had to cancel the order and I had one week to scramble to find something. I took a gamble buying an Alice costume I found online. I ordered a small based on the reviews of the dress sizing larger but sheesh.

Looks too sister-wives, right?

We took Liv to my dry cleaners and had the dress, petticoat and apron altered (which cost as much as the costume!) I was relived to see the result and the total cost ended being less than the original eBay dress. So my next task was finding a photographer. I was going to use the photographer recommended by the party planners but she was unavailable for the date of our party. Luckily I had an ace up my sleeve. I met lovely Jennifer Young back in 2013 when I was at Jihan’s studio picking up my birthday balloon. She shot Liv for Jihan’s party supply shop and she took these gorgeous shots at the Los Angeles Diner en Blanc. I have been a huge fan of her Instagram feed so I asked if she would shoot Liv’s party. I was so excited to hear she was available and able to come down to LA! Lastly, I had my heart set on having a photo booth backdrop. I liked this one I found on Pinterest and commissioned my Superhubs to build it for me.

He bought a piece of plywood from Home Depot and the frames, topiary/roses were from Michaels

Antz version is on the left

I love how amazing it turned out!! Antz is such a crafting genius. Next he made the Alice themed photo booth props and I ordered some party favors. Off went the invitations which are included in the party package.

The party included food and cupcakes so I wasn’t planning on getting a cake but as I was at Porto’s ordering snacks for the adults, I couldn’t resist ordering a small last minute cake for ma fille. Antz put together this rad cosplay photo of our Alice. The morning of the party was a bit hectic for us but I managed to take some shots of the set up. Once the party got started, I was so busy passing out name tags and chatting with guests, I hardly took any pictures. Luckily my BFF Aimee and my friends took photos with their phones. I am so excited to see the photos Jennifer took next week.

I can’t even with this little girl! She loves to get into character.

The party looked incredible!

All the guests signed this sheet that I will add our group photo and frame.

The photo booth was quite popular with the big kids!

I love this photo taken by Terry of Liv jumping for joy!

Thanks Alice & the Mad Hatter

Ching Ching had some cake too!

No more parties until you turn sixteen kiddo!!

Bon anniversaire lovely Olivia!

La Tour Eiffel

Apr 16, 2015

It’s been three weeks since my trip to Paris and I still can smell the fresh baked baguettes in the air. Visiting Paris during spring is such a difference than being there during the summer. I was concerned that the weather would be too cold, rainy and gloomy. Being cold makes me miserable but I loved the crisp air. It never rained, so of course I schlepped my rain boots and umbrella in my suitcase for nothing. I really don’t have much cold weather clothes so I bought a new coat from Asos (on sale!). Every day the sun would peek out just long enough for me to take some incredible photos. I know I was driving Aimee insane because I couldn’t walk one block without stopping to snap photos of buildings, flowers or even the lovely cobblestone streets.

So, I know it’s super cheesy and very American touristy but I had to test my courage and check out the new glass floor on the Eiffel Tower. It’s only on the first floor of the tower but it’s really high up *60 meters above ground!* I waited in line for 45 minutes for an elevator which ended up only going to the second floor so I took some quick shots of the view since Aimee was downstairs freezing while waiting for me.

Looking north at Trocadéro. It was totally cloudy but the sun popped out just as I took these

Looking east (there’s our Dîner en Blanc bridge!)

Southern views

I took this with my selfie stick and my hands were frozen. Don’t I look cold?

Sadly, I had no one to kiss so I blew an air kiss to Antz and Liv

The view from the 1st level glass floor

Can you see Aimee down there?

I’m not joking about how terrifying this was for me!

My best #fromwhereIstand so far

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!

Jess Koehler Magic

Dec 17, 2014

I am speechless!

Officially my new favorite photo of Liv

Pippi!!

So good. Thanks Jess!

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!

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.

LA Cake Club & Hello Kitty Exhibit at the Japanese American National Museum

Oct 15, 2014

Hello friends, I’ve missed you! This weekend was a busy one. Liv’s school follows French curriculum so when they have holidays off, so does she. She’s on October break for a week. We went to Cake 🎂 Club this past Saturday. I missed the last one since we were in Europe so I missed everyone. I made pumpkin squares with cream cheese frosting. I was concerned about the recipe since I ran out of granulated sugar and substituted brown sugar but Antz thinks it made it taste even better. He loved them and devoured about 5 squares!

Here’s the recipe I used

Sara’s Mom made this beautiful cake

My sweet friend Ellen made this amazing Dutch waffle cheesecake

Honestly I always kick myself for not taking better/more photos at Cake Club but I’m usually stuffing my gob or chatting so much to remember.

Thanks for another fantastic cake club, Sara!

Liv and her Cake Club BFF ran around like Superheros all hopped up on sugar

My friends and I decided it was a good idea to head over to the Hello Kitty exhibit at the Japanese American National Museum after lunch since we were so close.