I am coming off a doozy of a week and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel like I was just run over by a truck. Saturday was a big work event for me, having prepped, packed, shlepped, sold, re-packed and hauled back home from Brooklyn for The Ticking Tent. I absolutely LOVED meeting many of you, whom I had communicated with prior only over instagram. The internet is an amazing place if you find your people.
I also returned home last Monday late morning from a 3.5 day excursion to Hawaii, because yes, it is totally normal for someone who lives on the East Coast to travel that far for that short of a time period…!
I actually began my journey with less than 24 hours in LA “to break it up” but you know me, I like to pack in all the things so it turned into an eating/design extravaganza which I roped my fellow now LA-based designer friend Alex into chauffeuring me around on.
If you care, I’d love to tell you what I saw, ate, and wore!
Let’s start in LA.
Alex picked me up, we stopped at her cute house, and then headed straight to Jon & Vinny’s. I had never been despite my many yearly trips to town and that felt wrong. So I had some spicy rig, a pizza, and the spicy Cesar (which was possibly my favorite dish) straight off the plane. Another highlight was the diet coke over crushed ice, which IYKYK. It was premium level DC.
Next up, I scheduled a visit for us to The Future Perfect house at the base of the Hollywood Hills. I had just visited the one in NYC and left feeling so inspired, and this one doesn’t disappoint either. I highly recommend making an appointment to visit if you’ll be in the area.
Look at these original mouldings!!!!
We then ventured over to Lief, a shop I frequently purchased things from during my tenure at my last design firm, and an absolute treasure trove of Scandinavian design.
I also really love their in house collection of wallpapers, like this green marbled one shown below.
Next we made a “pit stop” (joking because I always say I’m just looking for inspo and then walk out with something kooky) into Bode on Melrose Ave. We have a couple of Bode shops in NYC but the one in LA is really special and beautiful inside. It’s also on a great stretch of Melrose with many design galleries, so you know, it wouldn’t make sense NOT to go in…
I ended up talking myself into this heavy weight suede jacket that I have eyed for a long time and they just happened to have it in my size, in the perfect shade of sand - plus only 45 total were made. Meant to be, that’s my rationale! It is technically from the men’s collection, so I took an XS.
The mariners style collar at the back is definitely the coolest part…
P.S. If you care to know I actually wore this outfit (sans jacket) on the plane. I don’t think I’ve ever worn jeans on a long haul flight before but my favorite stretchy Khaite pair was super comfy (would never wear the rigid ones) and these Le Monde Beryl suede flats are like wearing actual slippers. Wearing my cult favorite Leset tee underneath…Also we were laughing because I had packed a Bode tote to wear as my beach bag for the trip and walked into the store wearing it. Pretty sure I came off like a weird fan girl, lol.
Next we hit all the Melrose Ave. galleries starting with Seventh House where I kind of lost my shit over the kitchen hardware, which makes sense because it’s fabricated by Green River Projects, who also designed the Bode store. I know it doesn’t look like much in this picture but I’m telling you it totally transformed this boring rental grade kitchen into something that felt bespoke and cool.
The nice people at Seventh House told us to head down the street to Trevor Cheney Gallery where I obsessed over these Matt Kenny paintings framed in custom, you guessed it, Green River Project frames. Blowing.my.mind!
Alex and I ended our day of fun at The Row where everything is pretty and smells good. She then dropped me off at my friend’s place, after which I rallied for ANOTHER spicy rigatoni, pizza, etc. dinner at Mother Wolf, another Italian spot I’ve been wanting to check out since it opened last year. I may have committed carbicide but you only live once.
Onto Hawaii…
Day One:
A little background. A large group of us gathered in Maui for a dear friend’s 40th birthday celebrations. The welcome celebration took place at Hotel Wailea’s Bircage Bar which such a beautiful spot to take in the sunset, enjoy specialty cocktails, and reconnect with old friends beneath a backdrop of tropical birds chirping around the open air venue. Really special.
I love these people so much! I wore the most tropical outfit I could find in my closet, as a boring, most-ly brown wearing New Yorker. It consisted of this Coco Shop dress, my Roger Vivier denim block heels (so comfy btw), and a woven Savette bag that I don’t think they make anymore (but very similar to this one in shape and color).
Day Two:
Started the morning with a gorg beach walk on Wailea Beach. We began in front of the Four Seasons and then headed past all the big hotels on the ocean for about 1.5 miles before we turned around to relax on lounge chairs for the day.
Here’s my walking club. If you don’t wear sandals, denim cut offs, and a white overshirt you cannot be part of our club. I am wearing my new flops (I like that they are a bit weightier and more elevated than your typical flop), old cut offs, my Toteme PJ shirt, a Janessa Leone *PACKABLE* beach hat, and my Garrett Leight sunnies which feel like nothing on your face. Oh and can’t forget about my new mom chain. Yes it’s kind of uncool and yes you need it. Join me as I dip into hands free territory, the water’s fine. Favorite bathing suit worn underneath / not shown.
We had a ridiculously large lunch from the Four Seasons beach bar because my friend is an insane over orderer and I supplemented with both shave ice from down the beach and a frozen lemonade because if you know me at all, you know I have a raging addiction to frozen treats and have zero self control on vacation.
This was half mango, half passion fruit, all amazingness.
For dinner, my friend threw the most epic catered dinner at her home in Kihei and we partied way past my bed time (especially given the six hour time change).
I wore a very festive, comfy and key here *loose* outfit in preparation for the long night ahead. My dress is old Vita Kin but you can find other new pieces here, plus I HIGHLY recommend finding it secondhand on The RealReal here. I wore my same clear / leather flip flops and a big Juju Vera shell necklace on a cord string.
Day Three:
We mostly hung by the pool, ate poke bowls for lunch, and then had dinner from a variety of Maui’s food trucks. There are 14 of the best ones clustered together in a park called South Maui Gardens and it’s a really fun scene if you happen to find yourself hungry and in the area. I suggest going for dinner as there is live music and you can bop around sampling different things.
My pool lewk which my friends told me to take a pic of because they said the people want to know. Wearing one of my favorite button front one-pieces by Eres. No, these bathing suits are not cheap, but I washed this one multiple times a week this past summer and it’s still like new and one of the most flattering suits I own. These wide leg crochet pants are actually very weighty and slinky in person (in a good way) and the hat is one of the few logo branded things I own but the wide brim, mushiness, and tie function (I regularly wear it hung around my neck) really got me.
Day Four:
We went for a quick beach walk, breakfast and goodbyes! I left with a full heart, full stomach, and strong desire to detox upon arrival in NYC, which unfortunately didn’t happen because Halloween candy.
If you made it this far, I’ll leave you with this - a little vacation shopping edit I put together in advance of this trip and in preparation for our annual family Christmas trip to Mexico. Shop it here!
x
SL
Loved our day together! Come back soon!!