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Finale in LA

We made it to LA around lunchtime on Friday and already had plans to meet up with a friend. When we drove up to our hotel, Mr. C, I was a bit apprehensive. One, because the name of the hotel makes it sound like it’s a carnival funhouse, and two, if I’m totally honest, we booked it last minute while we were still in Santa Barbara!

I didn’t need to worry. Mr. C is the first hotel offshoot of the Cipriani brand, and it opened in LA this past June. You may know Cipriani’s from their many restaurants in NYC, Harry’s Bar in Venice, and of course the fact that Cindy was supposed to take Sonja there on one episode of Real Housewives of NYC, except her dentures fell out or something. Anyway.

The hotel is technically located in Beverly Hills, though in reality it’s much closer to Century City. Perfect location if you’re planning on doing stuff in west LA! Here are some more shots of our room and the hotel in general. I’m mixing in professional shots because we had less than 24 hours in LA, and I didn’t have much time to take pictures!

The front of the hotel. The valet service was ridiculously good. So accommodating, and they even gave us a bunch of waters for the road when we left on Saturday. Was it obvious we had had too much to drink the night before?

I walked into the hotel lobby and pretty much had a heart attack. It was sooooo good. At Mr. C, they don’t have you check in (what are you, an animal?). Instead, you are escorted up to that there bar and offered a complimentary peach bellini. I was hesitant to take it, but it was one of the best bellinis I think I’ve ever had. While you sit there and sip, a concierge person walks around to the front desk and checks you in. By the time you’re done with your drink, they come get you and escort you up to your room. Every hotel check in experience should be like this.

Check out those Eames chairs!

This is what our room looked like. The color scheme of the rooms alternates by floors, so on odd floors there’s this rich tobacco colored leather; on even, everything is white, like this:

I was a huge fan of the darker leather and I’m glad that’s what ended up with. I’ve come to realize I kind of dig the masculine vibe.

The dresser in the room was like an oversized steamer trunk and had a full bar setup on top of it. Way to know what’s hip, Mr. C! I thought the leather pulls were great. The lighting throughout the room was also amaaaazing.

One of my favorite features were these two huge sliding glass doors that opened out onto a veranda. Our room also featured a big chesterfield sofa. Love, love, love.

This is a good hotel bathroom. Take note, hotel designers. For such a small space, they got in a lot of great features. Double sinks and a rain shower. I was a happy girl. I’ve decided I want sink fixtures like that in my dream house.

Also, excuse the gratuitous self-portrait. I ran out of vertical photos to use in the series.

After we settled in and I stopped freaking out about the hotel room, we headed out for a late lunch. Cocktails at the hotel’s lobby bar followed. Dinner followed that. Beers at a local pub followed that. Me passing out followed that. It was a good end to the weeklong road trip.

Sun and Sand in Palm Springs


We were out in the desert from late Tuesday afternoon through Friday morning, and our timing couldn’t have been better. Palm Springs was in the midst of a freak fall heat wave, which meant temps in the high 90s and lots of sunshine. Since Joe and I had planned on doing nothing but hanging out by the pool, this was perfect!

As I mentioned before we left, we stayed at the Viceroy hotel. Are you sitting down kids? Okay…I wasn’t as blown away as I thought I would be.

I know that’s hard to believe when you see pictures like the ones above. And yeah, I feel a little nuts writing that too. The grounds of the hotel were absolutely beautiful. I loved how well manicured the walkways and gardens were. The landscaping was the perfect mix of glamorous while maintaining that vintage old Hollywood feel. The layout of everything made it feel like you were in this little countryside villa, tucked away from everyone.

But, the hotel! You want to know what happened! Well, like I was saying, the grounds are really pretty. There are three small pools (two of them featured above, plus a third that I didn’t get a shot of). The hotel is arranged such that groups of small cottages/bungalows (they call them “villas”) are dotted throughout the property, with many around this fountain in the picture above. Between the villas are a series of buildings that are basically like old motels that have been renovated — I understand this is how a lot of properties are out in Palm Springs, but I don’t think I was expecting this at the Viceroy. So yeah, the building we stayed in was pretty dated, with the only updates being the aesthetic design elements done by Kelly Wearstler.

Our particular hotel room was showing A LOT of wear and tear. The shower curtain was a bit stained. The bathtub had chip marks on the bottom. The rooms, which are painted a stark white, had dirt marks on the walls (there was a handprint on the wall next to our closet…um, ok?). The furnishings in our room had a lot of fray marks on the fabric. That iconic yellow chair you always see in Viceroy pictures? Totally awesome. Except it was dirty and very worn. It made me wonder — did they use super cheap materials for this overhaul? In many ways, it just didn’t live up to the “luxury” billing.

The room itself was quite sparse and sort of oddly laid out. We had opted for a King Studio, which ended up being less a “studio” and more of a standard hotel room. You can get these rooms for a steal on their website if you book 21 days in advance! I will say that in the end, the super low rate we paid was what made the stay okay. If we’d paid the normal rack rate for our room, I think we would’ve been very disappointed.

There’s not much to report on in Palm Springs because we really laid low! Reading and snacking by the pool, going out to eat, enjoying the live music the hotel had one evening (man does that place become a scene!). It was very relaxed and low key…exactly what we wanted. 

 
 

After a few nights in the desert, we were ready to head to LA and meet up with college friends. We were staying at a hotel we’d never even heard of, and were we in for a surprise…

But you’ll have to wait until later today to read about it. In the meantime, I’m honored to be guest posting on Liz’s blog So Much to Smile About. It’s her birthday this Thursday, and I’ve put together a little post with some gift ideas I think any birthday girl would adore! Be sure to stop by and show her some birthday love.

Sun and Sea in Santa Barbara


We arrived in Santa Barbara on Sunday afternoon, and the weather was BEAUTIFUL. 80 degrees, not a cloud in the sky. Our hotel was a quick walk to State Street, so we camped out at a sports bar for a while, eating snacks and drinking beers. Sports bar, you say? Yeah, yeah, I know. But it was Joe’s vacation too.

We stayed at the Canary Hotel. I didn’t really know much about the property, but was pleasantly surprised! I mean, they have a suzani hanging up in the lobby…how bad was it going to be? We also got upgraded to a suite, which is always a good way to start a trip. Sadly, I forgot to take pictures of our room (if you’re super curious, here are a few). I loved it though! The bedroom featured a four poster canopy bed that was so big, the hotel offers you a little step stool to climb in.

On Monday, we had a leisurely breakfast then drove up the coast to Montecito and San Ysidro Ranch. I’d heard about SYR for years, but had no idea it was so close to Santa Barbara. Luckily, Grace mentioned it to me on Twitter before the trip, so we definitely made a point to stop by. We felt a little like old people, spending our morning checking out a hotel (sources say this is what Joe’s parents do on their vacations), but the property and gardens at SYR are so pretty, they’re really worth it. It’s also the hotel where JFK and Jackie honeymooned after their wedding. I can only imagine how insanely gorgeous weddings would be at this place. I don’t even want to ask how much that would run me.

So pretty. The cottages are all tucked away in these lush gardens, and it feels so idyllic and private and lovely.

After SYR, we drove down to the Four Seasons for a cocktail on their outdoor patio. The weather difference between the beach and up in the hills was crazy! Sunshine and warm up there, foggy and misting down at the beach. Following our cocktail, we headed to the harbor for a seafood lunch at Brophy Bros., which I learned about from the blog Could I Have That. Thanks for sending me that link, Arianna!

We both dove into the Hot Combo plate — steamed shrimp, mussels, clams, oysters rockafeller and baked clams. SO GOOD.

Look how foggy it was down by the harbor! After lunch, we ventured into the side streets around State, and did wine tasting at Au Bon Climat. Spent at least an hour and a half there — we were the only people, and we fell into a long conversation with the woman running the bar. She was amazing! Dinner at Olio Pizzeria was the end to a pretty perfect day. We headed back to the hotel, and enjoyed one last night in Santa Barbara…Tuesday, we were headed to Palm Springs.

Road Tripping!

{via SF Girl by Bay}

I love a good road trip. And it’s been a long time since I’ve done a proper one. Sure, there’s been the odd drive to Los Angeles here and there, but the last time Joe and I hit the road in search of adventure was probably our sophomore year of college, when he drove back from LA to Austin with me one summer. And if I’m honest, that wasn’t much of an adventure, it was more two days of driving for 10 to 13 hours, stuffing our faces with beef jerky and chex mix.

As much as I love traveling to far away places, these days, air travel inherently makes everything a little more stressful. So it’s a great feeling to just throw all your junk in the car, plug in the tunes and GO. Here are a few road trip/southern California essentials boards I put together.

{one, two, three, four, five, six, seven}

one, two, three, four, five

1. Lemlem Adama Gauze Dress
2. Bauble Bar Caramel Curb Links
3. Josie Maran Argan Sun Protection SPF 30
4. Asos Floppy Hat
5. Burt’s Bees Tinted Lip Balms
6. Asos Floral Printed Playsuit
7. Topshop Scalloped One Piece Swimsuit
8. Bauble Bar Step Pendant
9. Steve Madden Guesst Sandals

Eat, Learn, Move

Have you seen this awesome trio of travel videos circulating the Internet? Commissioned by STA Travel Australia, the films are described as “3 guys, 44 days, 11 countries, 18 flights, 38 thousand miles, an exploding volcano, 2 cameras and almost a terabyte of footage… all to turn 3 ambitious linear concepts based on movement, learning and food …into 3 beautiful and hopefully compelling short films…”

[NOTE: These videos may not show up if you're reading this in an RSS feed}

They sort of remind me of the EF Language School videos from a few months ago. Aaaand I’m ready to go on a two month long vacation now.

Oh, and in case you’re curious, I’ll be back this afternoon with the Sheyna jewelry winner!