{Inspiration Wednesdays} Gift Guide...

For me... It's almost December which means I'm going to be super-irritating and start paging through cyberspace for all my wants and desires. (Then I'll move onto everyone else's desires and a gift guide for them :-) ) I most certainly need a few breaks here and there between finals; the first one is Monday and my hair is greying at a rapid pace. Yesterday was a doozy - 11 hours straight of contracts and civpro... today will be slightly more mellow; in fact, I haven't even sorted out what it is I want to do. But definitely on the sched is a study sesh at Larchmont with Vivs and dinner with Katie as a library break.

The other big news of the day is that the family and I are headed to Cincinatti to visit two aunts, two uncles, six cousins, a new-born second cousin and a menagerie of animales! This is the first time that Jason, my mom and I have actually traveled together on a plane since Jason and I were independent creatures, so it should be fun and... fun. But I am so excited and also planning a trip up to NorCal before school starts Jan 17. At least there is looking like a life after finals.

Anyway, back to other things I want (in addition to a pony):

The Row Toms ($140) - so luxe and extravagant. I would never buy these myself. Because that would be a waste of money, but as a gift? Perfect.

Marais Mary Jane Flats ($96) - totally goes with my new prim and proper ambitions.

Yoga Pass at Purple Yoga. New Year's Resolution Time.

Michael Kors Wristlet ($79.95) - I actually just need this.

Ten Things Bracelet ($24) - Stocking Stuffer?

Coffee Beans from Verve (Santa Cruz), Nude (London), Sumptown (Portland)

Coach boyfriend rose gold crystal bracelet ($348) - please?

Fragrance Sampler from Sephora ($50) - I need to find a new scent.

More from Etsy: baby owl earrings ($15), love ring ($75), detox handmade soap set ($20)

{Music Monday} White Arrows

Foster the People-esque, but I much prefer White Arrows. A diverse mix of songs perfect for... practice contracts exams. I had such a good weekend with trail running with Kels, pumpkin mochas from Starbucks, yoga, finishing up cover letters and practice crim exams. That and some much needed sleep, good movies and relaxation with the family. Currently, G and I are at the libs with a laundry list of things to do, but if we do well, then we are hitting up the Yardhouse for a happy hour IPA.

Grateful.

Even though Thanksgiving can be seen as hallmark holiday, it's always been an important to my family, because it's just about the food and being together. Last year was interesting, I was in London and Becky was with me, which was so fun. But we dragged Leiley to a restaurant in Covent Garden doing Thanksgiving dinner and it was dismal with half-cooked brussel sprouts and this weird stuffing patty. Needless to say, being at home is <3. Cool melodramatic moment, but I want to use today today to remind myself what I'm grateful for. Despite my whining, there is so much that I am grateful for.

1. My family: Yeah. They are legit and that has to be the biggest understatement of the year. They drive me insane, support me even when I'm being an idiot, constantly challenge me, feed me well and make me laugh every day until my ribs hurt. Moving back home with my mom, brother and aunt seemed daunting and it has had it's ups and downs, but certainly more ups than anything else. Being older and just slightly more mature has made me appreciate how much I have when I come home to them every night. I'm grateful for those moments in the morning when my mom and I drink coffee together and laugh at the GOP and her never-ending witty/snarky support. I love my brother and how sweet he is and how he tucks me in at night. I love my Aunt Tray for her zany ways and how she keeps my secrets. I love my dad for his imperviousness to my bitchiness and his generally chill ways. I love my Aunt Mote for being little and packing a punch, and always being proud of me. I'm thankful that we have a new addition to our family, my cousin, Jesspreet's new baby boy! I'm thankful for all my mom's sisters and the opportunity I had this year to reunite with my Aunt Jyoti and Uncle Vic over pancakes in London :-). I'm thankful for the time I got to spend with my inspirational cousin, Aniela, and her children. I am so lucky to have the family that I have, despite my complaining and idiocy. I could not ask for a funnier, more supportive, more intelligent bunch of crazies :-)

2. My friends: Cool this is going to be a long one. Let me start with my London Loves: Maya, Leiley, Elisa, Alexandra, Cailin, and Sam Slama (although she was in Paris - lolz.) Being that far from home was a new one for me, but these group of girls made it the best year of my life, with trips to Ibiza, to France, to Brighton, to ever club in London, to the ER, and to the police station. The bottles of wine we shared, the shopping trips, the nights of gossip, the Skype conference calls... Wandering London and Europe with them were some of the most phenomenal memories I will ever have.

Uh so I'm realizing that there are so many things to be thankful. So I'm going to start listing.
I'm thankful for my roommates from college and their humor. I'm thankful for my SAA loves, Cassi and Alexis, among others who known me too well for their own good. I am thankful for reuniting with some friends this year, including Nathalie and Steph.

I am thankful for my law school mentors and idols: Katie, Rahia, Cristina, Matt and Ian.

I am thankful for my Santa Cruz loves: Rob, Max, Grant, Tawsh, Scott, Emil, Kat, Benny, Leah, among others :-)

I am thankful for Sara, Carrie, Lexi, Lauren, Aimee, Kelsey, Becky and Jacob.

I am thankful for my law school friends, including Aviva and Gillian, who keep me grounded and caffeinated :-)

3. My education: Doing my Masters and then finally receiving it last week(!). My year in London was one of growth, independence, and life-changing moments. I am also thankful to be at Loyola and having the opportunities that I do, the amazing professors and the humor of my classmates.

4. My travels: Every where I've traveled and every person I've met. LOVE.

5. I am also grateful for the most scrumptious meal at Katherine's last night with 21(!) amazing people, delicious food, including a phenom. pumpkin cheesecake, and PUPPIES! Katherine is an wonderful hostess and I know my family always feel so welcomed in her home.

Sparkle Time

I just spent 6 hours going over outlines with Vivs at Urth and then we followed that up with a glass of wine at Cork Bar. Definitely needed. I can't really talk right now because my brain is so tired. But yay sparkles?

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{Music Monday} New Feist, Ingrid & Zoe Boekbinder

I'm about to go into hibernation for finals, so I'm uber-excited I found some legit study music.
First up is Feist's new music video for "How Come You Never Go There."

Then my girl Ingrid has this new heart-breakingly gorgeous song, "Ghost," out.


And most definitely loving Zoe Boekbinder, especially the song "Typewriter."
Enjoy!


In other news, how legit was J.Lo's performance at the AMA's last night?

Sunday Studying & {Music} Alex Clare

Being the sick individual I am, I'm enjoying my studying today with turkish coffee and this song:

Caroline by Alex Clare.
Um in love. Alex Clare is from the UK and has that Aloe Blaac soul I adore.

In other news, I'm finishing up outline, baking cookies, and trying to motivate myself to do some freelance work. Also had made the decision to actively market this little creative space of mine. I definitely keep this blog going to catalog all things I love and as my personal travel/lifestyle journal. But I think other people would enjoy it too, right? Maybe. Lol, so I thought I would give it a shot :-)

Friday was busy. After a long day studying at the library and being highly confused over Mistake of Fact and Strict Liability, Priyah and I had dinner at The Farm, complete with that delish truffled Mac and Cheese and the Ahi 3-ways, which included crepe-wrapped ahi, ahi tartare, and pepper-crusted ahi with a salad with a Ponzu sauce and a fire-roasted tomato salsa thing. Love food. Seeing Priyah was sooooooo fun, we bonded over our general heartlessness, melodrama and humor.

Yesterday was a relaxing day. Start off with an early morning hike with Kelsey and then came home and did some pleasure reading. Jason and I caught up over peppermint mochas as part of Starbucks BoGo while my mom got a manicure :-). Then we headed out for Vietnamese food at Kim Loan in Fullerton. We used to go there all the time for frogs legs (which my mom said was chicken #liar,) but we hadn't been in ages. We split the special pho, fried vietnamese rolls, spicy beef with lemon grass, vermicelli noodles, sweet and spicy chicken, lettuce wraps, BBQ shrimp... and tons of other stuff. YUM.

Then we rented "The Conspirator," which has a tremendous cast, including James McAvoy, Kevin Kline, Robin Wright-Penn, Alexis Bledel, etc. Directed by Robert Redford, it tells the story behind the trial of one of the alleged Lincoln assassination conspirators, Mary Surratt, boarding house owner and mother of another alleged conspirator, John Surratt. Mary is played by Wright-Penn and McAvoy players her lawyer. I loved it, especially the interweaving of the mother/child storyline, the historial fiction and very timely Constitutional issues. I highly recommend watching it.



Also on my list to see at some point this weekend is "Martha, Marcy, May, Marlene," which I have been talking about non-stop and "Twilight: Breaking Dawn." Don't judge me.

xoxo

Sometimes You Just Need a Pick Me Up...

This week has been full of ups and downs and today was a little easier as far as that was concerned. I just had one class, came home, did the Starbucks BoGo with Gillian, napped, did yoga, had delicious saag for dinner and a glass of red wine and worked on my research memo. Now that's done and I'm breathing a little easier and am thankful that I can relax for the rest of the night. Tomorrow, I have a "business meeting," with my girl Karly at Intelligentsia (yay hipster boys!) and then planning on a "cheap ethnic dinner" with Priyah. I don't know why everything is in quotes, but just go with it. Apart from outlining this weekend, I have some wonderful things planned, including brunch with Scott and his gf on Saturday, trying to make macarons, and hanging out with Cass. Also debating the Blue and Gold Week Rally on Monday?

But back to business, more inspiration - because sometimes you just need it :-)

NYE Inspiration:

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School Girl Chic Inspiration:

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{Inspiration Wednesdays}

I want to pick up some red wine, cheap chinese and curl up in bed. I don't know why I'm feeling so tired, but I still have a little left to do at the library.

1. Gorgeous photos of my favorite Tumblr couple, Lyla & Blu. Can you believe they're just teenagers???

2. United Colors of Benetton's thought-provoking ad campaign for the UnHate Foundation: world leaders making out.

via Refinery 29

Barack Obama, President of the USA; Hugo Chávez President of Venezuela

3. Helpful How-To when it comes to SEO and your blog from Mint.

4. Via Oh Joy, gorgeous new looks from Club Monaco

5. Delicious Kabocha Ravioli with Toasted Hazelnut Cream Sauce from Spoon Fork Bacon. On the menu for this weekend.

6. Super-cool trailer for, "I Believe I Can Fly," a documentary on French daredevils, who tightrope walk between skyscrapers, cliff dive and do other things that make up my nightmares. via Cup of Jo.

I Believe I can Fly ( flight of the frenchies). Trailer from sebastien montaz-rosset on Vimeo.

7. Joan Didion's packing list from the English Muse. I can't wait to pick up her new book for winter break.

8. My new favorite song from Lil Wayne and B.o.B. - Strange Clouds. Two more minutes and I'll be able to rap the whole thing.

9. Motivation for getting through finals? Cute clothes.

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10. and Puppies?

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Pie Perfection.

Pie Hole

714 Traction Ave.,

Downtown Los Angeles

When Carrie came down a couple of weekends ago, she was adamant that we check out the Pie Hole, a new pie place in downtown LA. So after enjoying the Getty, then eating at Sage, we toddled over to the Pie Hole and split a taste of the chocolate crostada with sea salt caramel topping. OH. MY. GOD.

So the Pie Hole is perfect. The decor is my new fave - industrial chic - with a mix of wood and aluminium and sweet DIY-ish details. We went around 7ish, which meant that most of their delectables had already sold out, but we lucked out with our pie. The Pie Hole is family-run and its completely evident by the friendliness of the staff and the obvious care that goes into each and every slice.

So onto the pie. The crust was interesting and I mean that it in a good/great way - it wasn't a traditional crust. Instead, it was had a more egg-y quality, thinner and more pliable. That sounds weird, but it complemented the chocolate filling, which sort of a brownie gooey goodness. I was telling my mom the other day that a lot of the chocolate, both in candy and desserts, that I have had since coming back from England has been disappointing and waxy. But this filling was rich, real, and perfectly cooked. And the sea salt caramel cut through the sweetness perfectly and woke up one's tastebuds.

During our inhalation of our pie, one of the Pie Hole "family members" approached us and asked how we liked it, to which I responded "I want to marry this pie." Cool. #alittletooexcited. But she was incredibly sweet and told us that if we had any critiques or suggestions that the Pie Hole would love to hear it. LOVE IT. The whole staff was so attentive and warm and they really cared about the quality of the food as well as how their customers felt.

Carrie and I were ready to move in. But seeing as we had beer to drink at Angel City Brewing (great cheap microbrews, but more on that later!), I settled on buying the two last banana nutella whoopie pies for Jason/breakfast. They were nicely sized and I didn't think you could make Nutella better. You can - by making it a buttercream filling.

I need to go back. Like right now. I'm drooling over my keyboard.

photos above from Piehole

Chocolate crostada with sea salt caramel topping c/o Oh Joy

{Music Monday} Oh Daughter

Oh Daughter is comprised of London singer, Elena Tonra. Her melancholic sweetness was essential in my London playlists, especially "Run," and I'm so happy that she has released a few more songs. My favorite is currently "Medicine." Perfection. It reminds me of the changing seasons, warms beds, and mulled drinks :-)

Daughter - 'Medicine' (Taken from 'The Wild Youth' EP) by ohDaughter

Daughter - 'Home' (Taken from 'The Wild Youth' EP) by ohDaughter

Daughter - Love (taken from 'The Wild Youth EP') by ohDaughter

Daughter - Run (demo) by ohDaughter

{Wednesday Inspiration}

A good week so far! Rahia and I took advantage of the $1 Coffee Bean deal yesterday and I got to sample the red velvet hot chocolate which was much more reminiscent of a marshmallow as well as the English toffee latte, which kept up until the wee hours of the night. Tonight, Aviva and I are planning a nice long study sesh with my personal goal being finishing my crim law outline. The rest of the week is looking much calmer than originally planned, but dinner with Rahia on Friday and an ortho appt on Saturday. Cool times guys, when the highlight of my weekend is picking out new colored rubber bands for my braces. Anyway, listen to the song below... Isn't it vaguely similar to Bon Iver's For Emma? Just a little? Lovesit. My favorite blogs, including SFgirlbybay and Cup of Jo, have been posting some amazing things lately, so check them out (a little sample is below :-) )
Hope everyone is having a great week!
xoxo

1. A favorite group and a new favorite song:

Of Monsters & Men-Lakehouse by Inepthenchman

2. Can someone teach me to dance like this?


3. Amazing - salon shots by Danish photographer Signe Vilstrup via Pretty Zoo




4. Wildflower ice cubes - a darling idea via Cup of Jo.


5. The Japanese home of Hitoshi Uchida as featured on the selby via SFgirlbybay

6. Los Angeles Conservancy hosts walking tours of Los Angeles. I want to go on the historic downtown one - who's coming with me?

Friday Afternoon at The Getty

Carrie and I checked out the photo exhibit at the Getty after my class on Friday. Amazing, as was the view. Also, how adorbz is Car?