Happy Travels

Turkey Day in Turkey this year!  It was rad.  We stayed in the Sultanhamet district, which I thought was a bit like Paris mixed with Brooklyn.  It was such a different scene, so ancient and beautiful and contradictory.  It was a little frosty the entire trip, so I bundled up and hopefully looked halfway chic doing so.  Here's a shot I really dig:

[Photo cred:  Alex @thewanderlustguy on Insta.  Bag- Longchamp.  Pea coat- Thread & Supply.  Scarf- H&M.]

And then of course I started memory tripping on past trips abroad.  Here's a hotel lobby shot I dug up from Barcelona back in March of 2013:

[Chambray top- Express.  Bag- F21.  Skirt- Bluefly.com.  Leopard flats- H&M.  Watch- Marc by Marc Jacobs.]

Speaking of cold, here's one from Paris around the same time.  It's my fave city (after home sweet L.A., of course), and I loved the serene beauty of the snow cover.  But I think I will stick to spring and summer trips there from now on.

[Pea coat- Guess.  Scarf- Nordstrom.  Jeggings- J Brand.  Riding boots- Vince Camuto.]

Wide Leg Pants, Part II

I NEED a pair of satiny light beige (or light rose pink) high-waisted, wide leg pants, similar to either pair below.  I can't find them anywhere.  Gods of fashion, is that too much to ask??!!

[This is prob not most peoples' first thought when they look at this pic, but where the heck did she pick up those awesome pants?]

[I made the horrible mistake of waiting for these to go on sale at Nordstrom.  Once they went on sale, my size had sold out.  Frugality may normally be the name of the game, but I def dropped the ball here!]

Style Envy: Diane Kruger, Part II

OMG.  I am still in love with everything this woman wears.

Fashion DIY: Gray Suede Boots

I picked up these sassy gray boots from Steve Madden last year.  I like the unique triangular shape to the heels.  However, I'm not crazy about the foldover design.  Because the lining material on the inside of the fold is different,  it's not a matter of just unfolding it.  So I took these to my shoe doctor in Westwood, and he told me these are a total tear-apart project, as he would have to cut off the top part at the ankle, flip it and reverse it.

Yes, he inadvertantly quoted a Missy Elliot song.

I visualized the process as he explained it, and told him it's cool, I got it.  The boots used to look like this:

Here is what they look like now, after I did my cut-off, flip & reverse magic:

I cut the material off at the ankle, turned it inside out (so the lining would be on the inside), then used fabric glue to attach the top parts to the shoe part.  I'm stoked on this.  Will update with what I decide to pair these with!

Spice World

Working through my backlog of pics I've been meaning to write about.  Here's one taken earlier this year when I was narrowing down outfits to take on a Vegas trip.  I had actually picked up this dress on a previous Vegas trip, at the Express in Caesar's Palace, because this reminded me of the little Gucci dress worn by Posh in the Spice World movie.  Girl Power til the end!

[The dress didn't make the cut.  Maybe next time.]

Office Wear

Recently, a client (who is a music industry guy) from work gave my boss free tickets to Jason Mraz.  My boss tried to unload these on me, remarking, "You look like you listen to this stuff.  Take the tickets."  

If you know me, you can prob guess that acoustic guitar strumming, singer-songwriter types are not exactly my fave.  They are so interchangeable to me, I'm actually not 100% positive it wasn't Jack Johnson.  

Anyway, what's cool about that happening is, I feel assured that I do a pretty decent job of creating a separation of work self from real self.  Court days are suit days of course (there is an upcoming suit entry in the works).  So most days, I'm figuring out an appropriate balance of biz-cashe that screams young professional, yet doesn't put me to sleep looking at it.  I really like this look from Banana Republic, and am going to keep in mind that unexpected pops of color and subtle mixing of patterns really punch up boring office wear.

Glamour-maid

One of my fave things to do in this city is go to the Getty or LACMA, and have a drawing day.  I used to do this often when I first moved to LA years ago, back when I had no idea what the heck I was doing with my life.  And now I try to do this whenever I have the time, because in this career path, scheduling calming activities is a necessity.  

I picked up the ol' sketchbook today and saw that my most recent one was from a couple of months ago when inspiration struck while I was enjoying a chill Saturday at LACMA.  Who doesn't enjoy a good/bad pun?