Disney Hall

Drive through Downtown Los Angeles and you'll be hard pressed not to spy the steel behemoth that is Disney Hall. It was just a mess of scaffolding and raw materials when I was in college a decade ago, but now it is easily one of L.A.'s most recognizable cultural landmarks. While I've passed by it numerous times and parked in its parking lot for all sorts of things, jury duty being the least appealing of such visits, I have only had the pleasure of taking in a couple concerts in the world renown music hall.

Last Sunday my husband and I went to hear a concert performed by the California Philharmonic. The concert, "Cowboys and Copland", wasn't my pick, but it was right up my classical music and filmscore-loving husband's alley. Checking out the architecture and the nooks and crannies of the Frank Gehry designed Disney Hall was my cup of tea, however, so I hope you will enjoy this very picture heavy post of me enjoying the scenery and architecture of Disney Hall.

The skirt I am wearing is from Clover Canyon. I thought it would be appropriate to wear because it is all about design and architecture.  The quirky print details the blueprints of a home and a birds-eye view of what I assume to be the end results of the blue-print. I first discovered this amazing skirt on phiphi's blog and I knew it had to have it. Thanks to some expert sizing advice from the lovely phiphi, it arrived at my doorstep shortly after first discovering it on her blog and it fit just right!

Pictured below is the skeleton of the upcoming Broad Museum, which is situated right next to Disney Hall and scheduled to open in 2015. Eli Broad is a power player in the world of contemporary art and has enough money to build his own museum to house his own collection of art. What a great way to secure one's immortality!

If you have the time you can visit the rooftop portion of Disney Hall. It features gardens, sculptures and more curvy metal stuff that architect Gehry is so well known for. I really wanted to venture here after seeing the movie Her, which had a short segment filmed in this location probably due to the film's futuristic setting.

The  rose sculpture I am standing in front of is dedicated to Walt Disney's wife, Lillian Disney. The mosaic is constructed out of broken shards of Royal Delft porcelain vases which were her favorite.

Well, I hope you enjoyed my adventure to Disney Hall. From the bottom to the top it is a cool place to hang out, hear music, and take blog photos of yourself. I hope to return sometime soon!

Linking up today with Walking in Memphis in High Heels Trend Spin

and Random Wednesday with Beacuase Shanna Said So

Skirt: Clover Canyon "Case Study" Skirt

Shirt: Romeo and Juliet Couture 

Shoes: Kate Spade "Chris"

Bag: Prada Saffiano Lux Tote in Papaya 

Sunglasses: Prada Baroque

Floral, Stripes and Guilty Pleasures

This has been somewhat of a lazy summer for me, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I came across a blog last week which listed some of the blogger's "guilty pleasures" in the summertime, which got me thinking about my own guilty pleasures during the season. I always have these lofty goals of things I am going to get done and places that I am going to see, but somehow relaxing and falling into the trap of these guilty pleasures always gets the best of me.

So let me share a few. First of all, watching my favorite daytime TV shows is high on the list. I am pretty sure that I have the viewing habits of a 90 year old woman as game shows, most notably The Price is Right and Let's Make a Deal are some of my favorites. I also like cool 80s programs from my childhood like The A-Team and Magnum P.I. that come on channels that advertise for mobility chairs and such. I kind of feel like my shorts today might be about the length of Tom Selleck's shorts in Magnum. I always think "wow, that guy is wearing really short tight shorts!" when I watch the show and I guess today I am doing somewhat of the same. Well, I am a child of the 80s, so what can I say? All I need now is the matching red Ferrari!

A second guilty pleasure is going out to eat for lunch too much. During the school year I obviously just can't leave and go to lunch, so this is a real treat during the summer especially since most places seem to have much better lunchtime deals than during evening hours. Eating out isn't so great for your "swim-suit" physique, but I am trying to take longer walks with William to even it out.

Last of all, shopping is another guilty pleasure. I usually try to cut this out as much as possible during the summer, but some of the sales are so tempting. Usually if I am out to lunch or something I will just "pop" into a store and then inevitably find something that is really tempting to come home with me. Bargains and summer sales are like kryptonite to me!

So before the summer comes to an end in the blink of the eye I am going to resolve getting more things done off of my famous "to do list" (I've done some, but there are over 30 things on it!) and I also have some school work that needs to get done even though it's summer. I am pretty sure I can juggle these and my guilty pleasures.  What are some of your favorite summer guilty pleasures?

Tee Shirt: Target

Shorts: J. Crew Factory Floral Shorts kind of similar here

Bag: H&M Straw Clutch here and similar here

Sandals: J. Crew similar here

Necklace: J. Crew Daisy Petal Necklace here

Neon Neoprene

Until a few months ago I had never heard of neoprene. Neo what? Essentially, neoprene is just a fancy term for what I like to call "scuba suit fabric", because that's really what it is. However, now instead of using the material for wetsuits, it's being used for fashion. I guess the trend can be traced back to Clover Canyon, who is known for making dresses out of neoprene fabric, but who knows? It seems like now everyone is following suit and constructing skirts and dresses from this surf worthy fabric for summer.

I thought I would give the neoprene trend a try. I am willing to try trends as long as I can do so in a relatively inexpensive way. It's always fun to give something new a spin. Maybe I should try surfing? Maybe not. Well, the closest I'll get to surfing this summer is the J. Crew Surf Skirt in Floral Cove. I really liked this print, but I wasn't sure about the fabric. It seems to be something you love or hate according the reviews I read online about the skirt. I picked the surf skirt up this week for under $30 which was a much better price than the retail of $128.

Since this skirt is now on sale online and in stores, I thought I would share a few thoughts about it in case you were thinking of jumping into the neoprene trend too. First, it fits very true to size... well, your J. Crew size. I took my usual size 2. Second, some reviews said that the skirt stretches out a bit as you wear it, but I haven't experienced this yet. It does have a lot of give in it which I guess could be good or bad depending how you look at it. Overall,  I think it's sort of different and fun for summer, plus I feel like if I spill on the skirt I can just hose myself off and I'm good to go!

Linking up today with Fashion Should Be Fun and Simple Sequins

Skirt: J. Crew Surf Skirt in Floral Cove here

Tee: Forever 21

Bag: J. Crew Claremont Bag 

Shoes: J. Crew Lillian Mirror Metallic Low Wedges here

Necklace: J. Crew Crystal Feather Necklace

Saving the Green

I'm not always the most economical person. I probably spend too much on things like clothes and accessories, but that's sort of the one area in life where I like to splurge. I'm pretty thrifty when it comes to other things. I also like to get a good deal on whatever I buy by watching for a sale or checking prices.  July seems to be a  particularly good month for sales, especially with clothing retailers. It's odd that once the Fourth of July has passed, summer clothes start going on sale and fall styles start rolling in soon after. In some stores I am even seeing a move to gear up for back to school. Can't we just enjoy summer a bit longer?  After all, it's just getting started!

Well, I can't get too upset with the seasonal transition if it means getting things for a bargain. This dress was definitely a steal. I purchased it at Forever 21. As a rule their prices are cheap enough to begin with, but when they have a clearance sale it's even better. This particular green striped dress that I find to be very kate spade inspired was marked down to about $18. Green stripes and a fit and flare style are too good to pass up, especially at that bargain basement price. What summer sales have you been hitting up lately?

Linking up this post with Mix and Match Fashion and Living in Color Style

Dress: Forever 21 Classic Striped Woven Dress

Shoes: Ann Klein 

Necklace: J. Crew Pearl Drop Necklace 

Bag: Dooney and Bourke 

Watch: kate spade Carlyle Bow Watch

Bracelets: Forever 21 and J.  Crew Factory

Belt: kate spade Bow

Pineapples and Palms

I want to say that this pineapple skirt from J. Crew was one of my favorite purchases from last year, but I feel like I say that about far too many things. I have gotten quite a bit of use out of it though. Each time I try to style it in a slightly different manner. One day with stripes, chambray or today a yellow eyelet top and gold accents.

This skirt turned out to be a huge hit with my students or at least they found it to be "intriguing." They confessed to me that it was "the most eccentric skirt" they'd ever seen. Clearly they haven't cracked open an issue of Vogue because there are far more eccentric things in there.  (I guess that's probably good, as they should be spending more time cracking open Shakespeare and Dickens instead of something like Vogue.) Well, bizarre or not (I find it to be rather tame), this is definitely one of my favorites and I am sure it will be for years to come!

I hope you enjoyed all of my pineapple and palm inspired pics. I feel like the palms give off a quintessentially Californian vibe.

On a random note, the vintage tricycle below is obviously not mine. It's outside of Anthropologie and can be yours for a mere $1400, a real steal. I think I'll stick to my bicycle...it's actually a pink Hello Kitty beach cruiser! Perfect for Hello Katie Girl! Perhaps I'll feature it in a future blog?

Skirt: J. Crew Ratti Pineapple Skirt similar here and here

Shirt: French Connection

Shoes: LuLu Guinness similar and really cool

Bag: H&M Straw Clutch here

Belt: kate spade similar

Watch: Kate Spade Carlyle Bow Watch here

Bracelet: J. Crew Factory Gold and Crystal Link Bracelet here

Fireworks and Sparklers

Happy Fourth of July! Today many people will be waving sparklers in celebration or gazing into the night sky for fireworks. I rather think the belt I am wearing is reminiscent of a sparkler or a burst of color from a firework. When paired with the blue and white stripes of my dress and the pop of red in my bag, it makes for a great Fourth of July ensemble.

In case you were wondering, this is definitely not what I am wearing today. Today I will be helping helm the BBQ so I will be decidedly more casual in my attire. However, it's nice to sit back, grill up some meat, sit by the pool with a drink and take in the fireworks from the backyard with family, friends and William. (Most likely I will be holding William, as loud noises such as fireworks still give his doggy brain a bit of a fright.) I hope whatever you have on tap for the holiday, you have a happy Fourth of July!

Dress: Anthropologie last seen here (there are some really fun bows in back which I forgot to get a picture of!)

Shoes: J. Crew Lilian Wedges in Mirror/Silver

Bag: Louis Vuitton Epic Brea in Rubis 

Belt: Anthropologie Crystallized Citrine Belt last seen here

Watch: Maurice Lacroix

Red, White and Boats

Since the Fourth of July is coming up, it's time to break out the red, white and blue. Truth be told, red white and blue look great all year round, but there's just something about this time of year that makes donning these three colors seem mandatory.

Due to the approaching holiday, I reached for these "Ratti Regatta" print pants today. Purchased at the end of last summer for a steal, I actually forgot about them for nearly a year. I also own the tank in the Ratti Regatta pattern, which gets a lot of use, but somehow these escaped my memory until today. One of the things that I love about this print is all of the colors of the sailboats. Even though sailboats and me seem to be a deadly combination (in high school I once crashed a sailboat into an embankment!) it's fun to wear these pants and daydream about being on the open seas which would be much cooler than it is here in Southern California!

Pants: J. Crew Collection Cafe Capri in Ratti Regatta Print

Shirt: J. Crew White Peplum 

Shoes: kate spade

Bag: Vince Camuto Louise Clutch

Necklace: J. Crew Crystal Droplet