The Last Bookstore + Outfit + Abbot Kinney Road

The Last Bookstore:


I've lived within Los Angeles County for the entirety of my life, and this week marked my THIRD visit to downtown… and the other two were so brief that they hardly count. I don't give this city enough credit. I complain about how warm it is everyday, wanting to have that cozy winter holiday feeling that never seems to come, but really? Who can complain about year-round sunshine?

Michelle and I decided to go to The Last Bookstore, which is probably one of the coolest places I've been in a while. It doubles as artist studio space, performance venue, and even offers knitting classes. They had some awesome art installations with deconstructed pianos and sculptural sheet music! The ground level looked like a pretty standard bookstore, but upstairs is where the magic happens. Not only were the artist studios upstairs, but also "The Labyrinth above The Last Bookstore."




The Labyrinth was row after row of diagonally-plced shelves, so that you get a bit disoriented. It smelled like grandmother's house and that dusty smell of old paper.

Highlight of the Labyrinth was this tunnel of books… I'm not quite sure how they stay up, if they're glued or just rely on physics.

I thought the Vault of Horror was pretty neat too, even though it's my least favorite genre.




Double OOTD:
Here's a little outfit of the day for both of us:


The lipstick is Mac in Cyber, and the bowler hat and houndstooth trousers are both from Forever 21.

Michelle paired a maxi skirt with a sweater and light scarf, which I thought was a great way to make a maxi skirt more appropriate for autumn weather.





Abbot Kinney Road, Venice:
After perusing the bookstore for an hour or so, we headed down the freeway to Venice's uber hip Abbot Kinney road. It's full of expensive boutiques, art galleries, nordic home design shops, wine-tasting dens, a couple antique stores, and the TOM's shoes flagship store/coffee shop, all with the eco-hip vibe of Los Angeles. We even found some candles that were "hand poured by monks in the forest." …I kid you not.


I didn't purchase anything, as most stores were out of my budget, but it was still fantastic place to visit. Many of the stores are held within converted single-family homes, and the visual displays are awesome.




{This was a pillow, with an eskimo man (?) on it. haha.}




It seems very appropriate that I at least explored a tiny bit of LA, right before I leave it. I highly recommend both The Last Bookstore and Abbot Kinney road if you're traveling to LA anytime soon!

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Last Week: LA, Velvet, and Disneyland.

Currently, it's almost midnight, it's raining (a rare occasion), I'm listening to the Swingin' Christmas station on Pandora, and burning the Cider Lane candle from B&BW which smells like caramel apple cider. Today, I had no plans or commitments, and consequently took TWO, yes that's correct, TWO naps, drank hot chocolate and ate a hot apple crumble pastry. Looking back, today has been fantastic.

However, lately I've been a little uninspired about what to post on this blog. Apart from looking back at my time in Paris, there's nothing too exciting happening in my life at the moment, at least exciting, blog-post-worthy things. The highlight of my day yesterday was coming home to my cozy bed; I recently adorned it with some Christmas lights and a red sparkly garland. I also went to Disneyland with my bff Natalie a couple days ago, which was super fun, but usually my life consists of work and school and being a homebody. Yes, there are fun things to do out here, I live close to LA, but for some reason I never feel inspired enough to venture out of my bubble. Probably because I've lived here my whole life.

Anyway, here are some snapshots from the last week or so.

{Spent a few days with my other bff Michelle. It was midnight, we were looking rachet in our oversized pyjamas, when we were suddenly hit with the sudden urge to go out to Hollywood! Totally worth it.}

{We went to a bar called Harvard and Stone, and I highly reccomend it. They played all oldies, the bartenders were truly talented and made delicious, unique drinks, and the crowd was young and slightly hipster, but the extremely friendly type of hipster. Seriously, people were dancing like nerds without a care! Great atmosphere. Did I mention the fireplace?? Yes, there's a fireplace.}

{the next morning, we had some serious studying to do, so we headed to a cafe that makes the BEST, I repeat BEST, cappuccino foam ever. Something about studying with Michelle brought out my genius, because I had a major breakthrough with my paper topic. HUZZAH! The place is called the Literati Cafe.}

{Delicious breakfast sandwich and eggs Benedict on the patio. Cappuccino of my dreams.}

{I work at a Color-Me-Mine, and every once in a while, we get a talented customer. And then I take pictures of their artwork like a creeper and post it online...}

{Velvet. Plaid. Need I say more? ...my room is messy.}

{Dress: forever 21. Necklace: Target. Scarf: also Forever21}
{NECESSARY: Sparkly Minnie ears and a carousel ride. side note: I stole Nat's Rimmel Kate Moss lipstick in 107, because it truly is a fantastic shade. Muahaha}
{Disneyland has decorated for Christmas! Seriously makes me so happy. Went on a Monday afternoon and the lines were perfect. Highlight of the day: Natalie realized her life dream of being the Rebel Spy on Star Tours. Success!!}

And because I can't help myself, I'm going to leave you with a little Christmas spirit.



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An Image an Hour

So I definitely didn't manage to take a photo for every hour I was awake yesterday, but I did manage to capture the feel of my day as it passed by. As expected, there are a lot of selfies, mainly because I didn't go anywhere interesting. You gotta work with what you got!


Worked my retail sales job in the morning, and pretty much clock-watched for about half of it. Why is it that the one fifteen minute break you're allotted seems to go by so fast? What do you think of those MiuMiu sunnies??



I then headed home and had a lazy evening. I concocted a kind of chicken noodle soup with ramen and long-frozen vegetables I had forgotten about, stubbornly resisted studying for an exam, and mainly watched Netflix episodes of Say Yes to the Dress.



Now, I've always struggled with procrastination and motivation to study/do schoolwork. But it has reached a whole different level this time 'round. After visiting Erik in Paris last month (has it already been a month??) I was able to stay positive for a while, but now just feel a little burnt out. I'm tired of working two jobs, and working in general, and I don't want to do anything. Traffic stresses me out and even simple errands lately have become massive undertakings.

I'm ready for Christmas vacation, so I can move my butt out of this city that I've never really liked that much and get on with things I actually want to do and am not obligated to do.


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Purple Trees and Summertime Sadness

It's only two weeks into summer vacation and I'm already going crazy with free time. And I don't mean crazy in the good sense. I was supposed to take a French conversation course this summer, but it was cancelled last minute unfortunately. So, with my 15-hour-a-week job, and nothing else on my plate, I've had a lot of time to lounge in bed...and lounge in bed some more.

I used to enjoy doing nothing! But I'm so eager for the future to get here that long, empty days really annoy me. But more on that future in a later post!

So today, I decided to change up the routine a bit and attend a free yoga class on the bluff. Which reminds me: I don't like free time because I have very little money to make the most of it, I just never have enough! (But doesn't everyone feel that way?) I also did some power walking, while listening to Swedish House Mafia, and ran up and down a huge flight of stairs to increase the workout. Because I refuse to gain weight this summer.


Lately, these trees have been blooming with the most gorgeous purple flowers. They rain down blossoms and it's breathtaking. Who doesn't love spring/summer?!



You know you're growing up when being on summer break no longer excites you. WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO ME?! Anybody else having this dilemma?

To continue with the theme of my post title, here's a little Lana Del Rey - Summertime Sadness.


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Beach Landscape

Here are a few pictures of my beach camping trip a few weeks ago. Also, a lovely little song by Brigitte Bardot. Enjoy! :)

The Beach

I've lived five minutes away from the beach for almost a year now, but despite the fact that sunshine, sand, and the soothing sound of waves are at my fingertips, I've been to the beach only a few times! Something about that isn't right. Warmer days are just around the corner, and I should spend more time enjoying the beach.

Three things I want this summer:
(1) Spend more time outdoors
(2) Go blonder
(3) Feel confident in a bikini

Here are a few photos from my little beach outing last week:





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Anybody else excited for warmer weather?

What sort of outdoor places do you prefer to spend time at?

Rancho Los Alamitos

If you have an afternoon, no plans, and you happen to be in Long Beach, I have a secret to tell you: There is an old ranch, with gardens, on the top of a hill, in a gated community, right next to the university, with free admission. That's right, something free! With free parking! Just drive up to the gate (Palo Verde & E State University Drive), talk to a really polite and helpful gate attendant, and drive on up to Rancho Los Alamitos, where a couple hours of quaint gardens and Ranch-house-touring awaits! To be honest, I don't know what's inside the Ranch House. When I visited I was in a more outdoorsy mood. Here are some of the things I saw:


Trees with giant roots. Who doesn't love trees with giant roots?