{ West Hollywood, California }
Zara Sweater (similar) | Tom Ford Glasses (on sale) | DIY-ed Cutoffs (similar)
Vintage Necklace (similar) | Cartier Necklace (similar) | Louboutin Pumps
{ West Hollywood, California }
Zara Sweater (similar) | Tom Ford Glasses (on sale) | DIY-ed Cutoffs (similar)
Vintage Necklace (similar) | Cartier Necklace (similar) | Louboutin Pumps
Blu Jam Cafe | Los Angeles, California
So apparently when I go to Los Angeles I turn into a completely different human being and actively seek out things like carrot-celery-cucumber juice. (The most annoying part? The damn juice tasted like heaven on toast, thereby very much not supporting my lifelong theory that healthy rabbitish food of the sort typically eaten by denizens of the Organic Coast tastes like sandpaper. Ugh.)
Francesca and I went to breakfast at the Blu Jam, in West Hollywood, because we were in need of blueberry pancakes...but then I (completely inexplicably) ordered that carrot-celery-cucumber juice. And so I figured what the hell, while I was at it I might as well get super weird and get The Ginger Shot, because I'm at the start of a cold and Francesca assured me that the shot would fix it.
Summer entertaining is all about keeping things simple - plastic utensils, easy recipes on the grill, et cetera - but once the weather cools down and the party moves inside, more focus gets placed on the food, the décor and all those small-but-significant details you add to make your guests feel special. But that doesn’t mean you have to get all fussy. (I can’t do fussy.)
So I thought I’d show you some pictures I took of the setup for an intimate dinner I held for a few friends. The party wasn’t for any especially good reason – just that I wanted to give them an evening of good food and good drinks. But I also wanted actually spend time with my guests and not messing around with a stove, so I made sure that everything I set out was not only one of my all-time go-to (meaning unscrewupable) recipes, but also something I could make well in advance.
Yesterday, on the endless, practically featureless drive down I-5 from San Jose to Los Angeles, my daughter sleeping in her car seat in the back, my (extra-large) Red Bull propped between my knees, I called a bunch of friends, because six hours on the road seemed like a good time to get some catching-up done. "So why are you going to LA?" they asked.
And I had a bunch of answers at the ready: I have no work this week that I can't do remotely; I was in the mood for some girl time; my dad's in town for a few days and I miss him. I wanted to see how Goldie would do on a just-us-two trip (I usually take Indy on weekend trips because he's easier to travel with, but he's got a new school schedule now that I didn't want to disrupt). I have a few colleagues in the area who I've been meaning to meet with for awhile.
See? Lots of reasons.
{ Mill Valley, California }
Stuart Weitzman Boots | Zara Camo Jacket (similar)
On Sunday, we drove up to Mill Valley for bahn mi (seriously, the bahn mi place there is good enough that it merits an hour and a half drive...and the drive also presents a way to get the kids to take a nice, long, simultaneous nap, so that's a bonus). We didn't take many photos - just the two you see here, of us sitting in something called a "Gravity Car" - because we weren't doing all that much; just wandering and eating and occasionally stopping into a store. It was a peaceful, largely uneventful day.
{ Hover over photos to view captions }
I think we're done.
{ Orenchi Ramen | San Jose, CA }
Old H&M Shirt (similar) | Zara Jeans (similar) | Sorel Boots | Botkier Bag
I would not consider myself an especially patient person. Rush hour traffic, for example? No amount of zen classical music can calm The Rage. There was one time when I had a 10:00AM meeting in San Francisco and left my house at 7:15AM - thinking that nearly three hours should be sufficient for what amounts to an hour-long drive, even in rush hour - and after sitting completely still on I-85 for a solid forty minutes I was about to just park my car on the highway and start walking, because I could not handle the absence of movement for one more second.
| Follow on Instagram @ramshackleglam |
There's us on our date night to check out an advance screening of Spectre (obviously we had to go ahead and dress thematically). It was completely ridiculous in that very specific Bond way (where the female lead who just seconds earlier was kidnapped and narrowly escaped death just so happens to have a slinky gown in her...suitcase? Which she took with her while being kidnapped and narrowly escaping death?), but whatever: SO fun. Go see it, and be ready to both roll your eyes all the way into the back of your head and have a total blast.
I was on the hunt for a simple, perfect white silk button-down. Found it.