Flying into San Francisco with my mom, we immediately headed south to Monterrey, where I woke up on my 21st birthday and after exploring the aquarium there, we drove down to Santa Barbara where we spent two nights. Santa Barbara was a blend of North and South California to me with the Pacific Ocean right at my finger tips. I loved the hotel we stayed in in Summerland, and yes that's really the name. On the day after my birthday, my mom and I took a trip to a little town north of Santa Barbara called Los Olivos, which is where the photo above is from. It's know for its many wineries so while my mom took the opportunity to try them, I bought some cupcakes from a local vendor instead. It was a quaint little town and we had apparently been there before in 2002.
 |
| Monterey Bay Aquarium |
 |
| Our hotel in Summerland and the Pacific Ocean right across the street |
Finally that Saturday, I reached Los Angeles and immediately headed to The Grove to go to Topshop, which was two stories and I treated it like a museum. I had to take my time and make sure I didn't miss a thing. The Grove was a nightmare, full of people walking where they wanted with places to go. It was a little overwhelming to say the least. But I really had a moment of awe in Nordstrom, which had a full Charlotte Tilbury counter. Feeling like a kid in a candy story, I picked up one of her Eyes to Mesmerize in Bette Davis and Charlotte's infamous Filmstar Bronze & Glow, which is like a work of art itself. I didn't do much more shopping after that, I breezed through Zara and picked up two more t-shirts like the one I wore to One Direction in Baltimore.
Sunday I met one of my friends for the first time at Lemonade in Beverly Hills. Lemonade is a cafeteria style eatery and since it was my first time, I let Demi guide me on what to get. I had a tomato caprese pasta of sorts, buttermilk crusted chicken, truffle mac & cheese, and a raspberry macaron. The lemonade was the best part, hence the name. Demi got an Arnold Palmer while I went for the Guava Limeade (which I had again while waiting for my flight to leave). Lemonade is one of those picturesque places in LA that makes everything seem so much prettier when you're sitting there.
From Lemonade we did some shopping and then decided to go over to Melrose Place where Alfred Coffee was, a coffee shop that has been on my list for quite some time. Walking up to Alfred was one of those places I instantly fell in love with. My iced vanilla latte was amazing and I couldn't help taking plenty of photos of the interior as we sat inside. Demi and I closed our time together sitting outside Alfred as the sun went down and there were adverts for Halsey's upcoming album Badlands across the street.
On one of my last days in LA, I went down to Rodeo Drive to the new Burberry store. I had done my research about Burberry's makeup line and was excited to find out that the Rodeo store had the whole line. I had my makeup done by a brilliant makeup artist who also gave us a tour of the store since it was four floors. We were able to go up to the penthouse and have a proper view of Rodeo from the patio. Look for a post soon about what I bought from Burberry too.
Before Burberry I had breakfast at Joan's on Third at her Studio City location. Joan's is like a little market with restaurant and bakery inside. I had an amazing plate of french toast and picked up a keepsake mug afterwards. A trip to In-n-Out was necessary but I can tell you I probably wouldn't go back. Alfred and Lemonade definitely won me over by a mile.
I loved LA and can't wait to return in the future. I hope to see more of Southern California too but until then I'll keep enjoying my photos from the trip.
Post a Comment