Misha Lulu presents Life’s Adventures & Mysteries Art show at Leanna Lin’s Wonderland

Sep 14, 2014

This Saturday was the monthly Nela Art walk. It also was the opening of my sweet friend Karen’s art show Life’s Adventures & Mysteries. I loved every piece, Karen and Joe are so talented. There was also cute handcrafted headbands by Persimmon Jewelry adorable dolls made by Miko Design and floral wreaths by Cakies. One of my favorite shops for kid’s clothes, Kumquat was there with the new gorgeous Misha Lulu Fall line. It was so lovely to reunite with the Misha Lulu family. Olivia gets so excited to see Bela and play with the “big girls”! I saw most of the Misha Lulu Moms and I hope we are able to get together again soon for a shoot. We really wanted to walk to the art walk but the weather was unbearable so we opted to head home early to relish in the air conditioning.

There seemed to be a Misha Lulu attire dress code

Lovely Karen, always so chic * I want her dress!*

Bela is the cutest little spy ever!

Such remarkable pieces, we need more walls in our house!

How amazing are these dolls by Miko Design?!

I’m not at all embarrassed to admit I want one of these crowns for myself!

Trying on a Persimmon Jewelry headband

I bought the dress Olivia is wearing two years ago from Kumquat!

Liv is becoming such a good photographer

This lollipop dress is perfection. I love the bright, cheery colors and the cut is so good on Liv’s long frame. It’s one of my favorite dresses.

Liv picked her favorite. I adore the new Fall line!

This mustard dress is soooo pretty! It’s on my wishlist for Christmas

I may have to return and grab the Nan Lawson and Cuddly Rigor Mortis prints!

Everywhere you look in Leanna Lin’s is awesomeness. I would buy everything in there if I could. Bravo!!

Liv scored a Tokidoki Unicorno


You do not say no to a card this incredible!

San Francisco Day Two

Sep 11, 2014

Our Sunday began with the wonderful luxury of sleeping in. It’s such a rare instance that Liv sleeps late so it was a treat. We checked out of our hotel and headed to Hayes Valley for brunch at a Carnival themed restaurant called Straw. I was looking for restaurants on Pinterest when I came across their donut breakfast sandwich, I just had to try it. Luckily, I found parking easily *in the city with $50 parking lots* It was a beautiful day, we loved the food and decor. Afterwards we walked to Miette the prettiest candy store I’ve ever been to. Liv and I were literally kids in a candy store. It was delightful and overwhelming in the best way! After careful consideration we choose our goodies and I took photos of everything. Next we took a scenic drive around town and stopped by the rad hidden Seward Slides which was super fun. We ended the day at the Golden Gate park before hitting the highway back home.

Liv and Antz played Ms. Pac-Man while I checked out of our hotel.

I love the retro trolleys. As much as I enjoyed staying at the W hotel but I wasn’t a big fan of the downtown district we were in. It’s full of tourists and traffic and I am itching to explore the Mission part of town.

When I visit SF again, I am going to give myself enough time to just drive around gawking at the beautiful architecture of this magical city. I took these photos with my iPhone but they don’t show the true beauty of these victorians.

I love the colors of this Queen Anne. I could see myself living in SF.

We drove past the San Francisco Unified School District building. I just noticed my bun was inspired by cotton candy!

Hayes Valley is a quiet area that reminded me of Highland Park. They even had a parklet like ours. I can tell it’s a part of town going through gentrification.

Straw had a wonderful carnival theme. We took this photo but Antz thought it was too tight to eat in there.

How cute are the menus? I was so happy my Mom ordered the sweet potato tots so I could give them a taste. Everything looked great but I was there for the donut breakfast sandwich.

Totally yum!

A few blocks away is Miette. I don’t understand why there isn’t one in LA! Liv and I were in pink, pretty candy heaven!

Liv said “Look, Rocky Horror Picture Show lips!”

I find so many cool places on Pinterest. I couldn’t leave San Francisco without checking out the hidden Seward slides. I love the “No adults unless accompanied by children” rule!

I’m no scaredy cat but this was the steepest slide I’ve ever ridden.

Olivia definitely approved of this park.

We had to drive down Lombard Street, the crooked-iest street in the world

Great view of Alcatraz just off of Lombard Street

Our last stop was Golden Gate park to show Olivia the iconic bridge. Guess who fell asleep before we arrived?

We still have so much to do on our next trip to the Bay area, see you soon SF!

Picnic at Barnsdall Park

Aug 25, 2014

Liv’s new French school had a picnic at Barnsdall Park for the Pre-Kindergarten class. It was a lovely afternoon. We met so many nice people. I feel so fortunate to send Olivia to such an esteemed and diverse school with really cool kids. Liv really hit it off with an older girl who taught her how to do a handstand. I have been saving my Oh Joy for Target party stuff for just the right occasion. I didn’t take that many photos because I was too busy running my mouth!

So excited to finally use my Oh Joy for Target picnic basket

Olivia’s new classmate, also named Olivia!

Such a perfect view

We made a drink with pomegranate juice, lemonade and sprite

Liv is super stoked to start school next week

The first day of school is coming up soon. Si excité!

Parker Palm Springs Part Two

Aug 20, 2014

I feel like I had too many photos in my last post so here are the rest of the photos I took of the Parker and the lovely grounds early one morning. I almost did the ice bucket challenge while we were there but no one has challenged me *Antz doesn’t count because he didn’t do it!*

A rare glimpse of Norma’s empty!

Love this color palette!

There are so many hidden spaces to chill by running water

The spa was closed so I didn’t get to check out the indoor pool

I don’t know how they keep their grass so lush in this drought

The Lemonade Stand

Grown-ups only pool

My Mum loves Foo Dogs

There was always a bunny hanging out here

After we said goodbye to our chic room, we headed towards the Saguaro to hunt for the most pinned house on Pinterest. I didn’t have an address other than knowing what the exterior looked like and it’s marked 1100 but no street name. After driving around for about ten minutes Antz had the genius idea to ask the mailman where the house was. We headed over in less than a minute *FYI, there are soo many gorgeous houses on that same street* You can see the interior of this architectural gem here.

This house was a few doors down, love the inner tube lions entry. These folks must party hard!

We had a terrific time in PS, the perfect staycation and lovely place to spend with my two loves. See you again soon!

Los Angeles Renegade Craft Fair 2014

Jul 28, 2014

Hello There!

I feel like it’s been an eternity since I last posted but I adore the photos from our shoot in London with Lee so much, I hate to see them disappear from my home page. Well today we went to the Renegade Craft Fair and we were prepared for the California sun. We all wore sunscreen, I was armed with my parsol and Liv had her sunglasses. The weather Gods took mercy on us and as we were walking from the parking lot, we were caught in a rain storm. It lasted all of fifteen minutes but enough rain to cool down and hopefully quench our poor backyard’s thirst. The craft fair has moved from it’s regular location of the LA Historic State Park *which is under complete renovation* to the popular Grand Park. I loved the new location. The parking was a pain, but Grand Park is so lovely and we prefer the grassy area to the usual dirt field. I hope they always have it there.

Olivia’s crown was a huge hit, pretty much every person told her they liked it!

Little did I know the lens was covered in raindrops

Nan Lawson is one of my favorite artists

We had to show the lady who makes this rad jewelry the photos of Liv’s rabbit mask

Georgia Varidakis Jewelry

Uhh, here’s the P.O.P. Butter crunch candy booth?

I will definitely attempt to make this paper cake!

Donutface

#unicorncrafts

I loved this booth Haus and Home + Lord & Little

I want one of these awesome guys so bad! Yetis and Friends

How rad are the names of this tea?!

Hipster-in-training Liv put together this entire look

We found our favorite booth, hey guys!

We tried this new flavor, savory and sweet with a kick of spicy!

Their butter crunch candy is the best. Buy some GoPopCandy!

Antz tasted some really good watermelon jelly

Yeah, I loved these bags

Liv has really been into Pee Wee’s Big Adventure


Great pinatas

Hello Ann!

This food truck wins! Me So Hungry

I ordered the Monster burger and sweet potato fries

Insanely tasty

This kid has the longest legs in the world

We love the Magnolia photo booth @magbooth

Thanks for another fun Renegade Craft Fair. I hope to attend the fair in another city some time soon.

Our London photo shoot with Lee Robbins

Jul 8, 2014

I got the photos from our photo shoot with Lee!! They turned out better than I imagined. I love the shadow, the editorial style, the color contrast…I am so f-ing happy! We had a blast at the Ace Hotel, walking around the cool hipster Shoreditch neighborhood in east London.

Lee is magnificent! Book him if you are in London. Here just a few of my favorites.

See more posts about our time in London here, here and here

This is my absolute favorite photo Lee took. The way he captures shadow
and light is what made me fall in love with his photography.

I’m so happy we found this Banksy. So much of his art has been stolen, painted over or demolished

Thanks Lee XOXO!

Room 602 at The Lloyd Hotel Amsterdam

Jul 2, 2014

As promised here is the Honeymoon Suite at the Lloyd Hotel. We had so much fun in this room. Our view of the harbor and the clock tower felt like we were on a film set. The rustic A-line roof was perfectly spooky and austere. Olivia loves taking baths so she hopped right in. We had fun on the swing and ordered room service since we didn’t want to leave the room. I hope we can return to the Lloyd soon and stay in another rad room *hopefully the one with the enormous bed* I would definitely recommend this place if you are in Amsterdam.

Everything felt like The Shining

I loved how the room was simultaneously dark but immersed in sunlight

The bathroom was tiny but clean. The shower had great water pressure but I felt like I was going to flood the floor.

Liv took this cool photo of her folks

This pretty armoire was large enough to fit the three of us

We met the sweetest Irish lady in the restaurant. She told us all the local places to see and gave Liv some almond cookies.

Goodbye Anne! We’ll miss your yummy profiteroles

We brought home a blank pair of wooden clogs for Antz to paint. I also picked up some tulip bulbs to plant in our garden.

The bittersweet taxi ride to the airport is always the lamest part of traveling.

Sleepy face!

So long Amsterdam

Pretty packaging KLM

We lucked out again with the sweetest flight attendants

We met the Captain and toured the cockpit

Hello President Obama!

Our trip was over in a blur. It’s so true that time flies when you are having fun. We had the time of our lives in those short four weeks. It felt like we spent more time in line at customs than our entire trip! We pushed ourselves pretty hard with my packed itinerary and jet lag hit us hard so we missed some fun places *Sissyboy/Bloemenmarkt (Flower Market) and NDSM werf* We will hopefully return in early spring to see the tulip fields. Olivia seemed underwhelmed with flying but I am sure when she’s older, she’ll understand the magnitude of spending your fourth birthday in Europe.

Vondelpark Amsterdam

Jul 1, 2014

New York has Central Park, Los Angeles has Griffith Park and Amsterdam has Vondelpark. We spent most of the day at this massively beautiful park. We didn’t even cover half of the space. It was terrific weather and there were so many activities to choose from. We encountered art, music and food; the European winning combination.

Liv wanted to show us a backflip but she landed flat on her back. Poor Baby

We loved Vondelpark! Antz wasn’t brave enough to rent a bakfiet but next time I’ll do it. There was live music, restaurants, so many friendly people. I hate to admit it, yet most cities in Europe are more friendly than Paris. Don’t get me wrong, Paris is beautiful and incredible but the people seem mean and miserable.

Lloyd Hotel & Cultural Centre

Jun 29, 2014

Our experience at our first hotel in Amsterdam was meh. We checked out bright and early and hopped on the tram *along with all 8 pieces of our luggage* and headed to our next hotel. The Lloyd reminds me of The Overlook hotel in The Shining. It had creepy long corridors and used to be a prison long ago. The designers infused modern spaces that were bright and open, seamlessly blending the gorgeous 1920’s architecture. There were common areas like a library, offices and art spaces. We spent an hour just exploring the labyrinth of a hotel before dropping our luggage off and heading out to the city.

Photographing this hotel was like a photo shoot with a supermodel, every angle was perfection.

Hello gorgeous!

This chandelier wins!

Signing the guest book

Antz captured four year old Olivia perfectly

Learning the history of the hotel

I’m sure if you look hard enough you can find Jack Nicholson in this photograph

I want a steamer trunk like this one so bad!

Just waiting for Danny to ride his Big-Wheel down this hallway

La bibliothèque

I know my Mom would love this chair

Original e-mail

One day I will own a sawhorse desk

Restaurant

The store

Local Dutch brew

Fries with mayonnaise is the best!

The Lloyd is enormous yet has only 117 rooms. You won’t find a corporate boring room like the one we stayed in on our first night. Most of the rooms are designed by Dutch artists and they range from one star amenities to five star. I love the idea of different styles of rooms at every price range. There’s even a room with a bed for eight! Here are some more unusual hotel rooms. Our room is considered the Honeymoon suite and I was so excited that we were able to book it. I loved every second in that room. I wish there wasn’t a TV in there because we never used it and it took away from the simple design of the room. Not to sound like some kind of snob but I’ve stayed a plenty of five star hotels yet this hotel was the most interesting and hauntingly beautiful place.

I know, I’m such a tease. I shall post our room soon.

Amsterdam

Jun 25, 2014

Hallo,
Groeten uit Amsterdam! Greetings from Amsterdam. The weather here is mild, we wore our jackets and dressed in layers because the sun tends to pop out of the clouds and make us hot. We arrived right in the middle of the pandemonium that is the World Cup so it was chaotic in Dam Square. This city is tiny compared to London and Paris. We were able to walk around the entire town in one day. Our plan was to eat, do some Father’s Day shopping and swing by the Anne Frank house to check out the line. We really enjoyed walking along the lovely canals. Folks on boats passed us cheering for Holland FC all decked out in oranje. We didn’t get hit by any bikes!

The tram was so fun, clean and easy to ride. I love public transportation in Europe!

The weather would be cloudy one second and sunny and hot the next

We skipped all the cheesy things like the Amsterdam Dungeon and Madam Tussaud’s Wax Museum

Let’s do some shopping!

New headphones for Papa

Liv ordered a pancake with ice cream, blueberries and rainbow sprinkles

Antz had a pancake with “chorizo” (it tastes like sweet pizza)

My pancake had bacon

Not bad

I wanted to see the floating flower market but I guess we missed it that morning

The cousin to Olivia’s Maps book!

Most buildings had these massive hooks outside. I suppose they use the pulley to carry large items upstairs

I love you too Amsterdam ❤

Sometimes, you gotta take a leak

Or take a quick twerk

We checked out a cannabis store. No purchases were made!

A majority of town was decorated like this

The unique architecture of the city was fascinating

The Anne Frank House

The line was an hour wait

We found this rad custom t-shirt place

Antz got a couple of shirts printed

We hung out with the owners pets while we waited

Happy Father’s day lovely!

We headed back to the Anne Frank house which had a shorter line since it was later in the day. It was a sobering experience.

Of course there is a strict no photos policy inside, but I couldn’t help myself. This was the bookcase that hid the Secret Annex.

My giant size could barely fit in the tiny space the families hid in for two years

Signing the guest book

We ended the day in the Red Light District which was disappointing. We saw red lights but no boobies!

We tried fries with mayonnaise (yum!)

We felt a warm welcome on our first day in Amsterdam. It was easy to navigate the city but of course traveling is a trial and error process. We quickly realized we made a costly mistake by taking a taxi from the train station to our hotel. Our cabbie drove the longest way possible and while I planned on being a €20 – €30 cab ride, ended up almost costing €60! We could have gotten off at the Schiphol train station and taken a tram for less than €10. You live and you learn.

Another lesson we learned during our travels is we must downsize our luggage. It was a nightmare traveling with eight pieces of luggage. I definitely needed only 3 or four pair of shoes and not 8! Although in my defense, I was glad I brought my Doc Martens and I did wear all eight shoes but I could use one pair of sneakers, one pair of sandals and one pair of boots. Since we had to pack for le Dîner en Blanc, we had to carry a fold-up table and a bag of dinner supplies. Liv had two bags which was perfect except she refused to carry her suitcase. Antz had the duffle bag and his backpack but he thought he overpacked and ended up carrying four bags. We did some shopping but I was disappointed that the Swedish Hasbeen clog store was closed.

Zie je later!