Gold Digger

Prada Heels

Between searching for fabulous holiday gifts this season and killing time on Pinterest (god bless Pinterest!), I am seeing a lot of GOLD! It's everywhere- gold sequin dresses, gold jewelry, gilded decor, gold on shoes and finger nails. I am obsessed!!! I put together a gold lovers guide to all that is glitters and gilded and maybe it' not too late to sneak some glamorous gold onto your wishlist! VIVA LA GOLD!

Gold Painted Stripes Thank You Card, Rifle Paper

Pull Cici Cashmere

Sequin Skirt, Image from Riches for Rags

Gold Zag Tray, Etsy $98

Banana Bud Vase, Jonathan Adler $68

Golden Blue Ring, $200

Classic Pave Link, J. Crew $118

Shake Your Groove Thing, Deborah Lippman $18

Kate Spade Sparkler Missy, $155

Painted Bias Armchair, Anthropologie

 

Gifts for the Ladies- Part 1

Happy Wednesday! Today's Gift Guide features gifts for women. If you need some ideas for men, I have you covered- here, here, aaaaaand here!

Marc Jacobs, 2011 Collection- very generous gift!!!

Alexis Bittar Earrings

Kendra Scott Earrings

Giving to girls is such an easy task. There is so much that makes us happy. We like new things- new accessories, new perfume, new clothes, new products, and new experiences. Since that is pretty vague, below are a few options of something to wrap up and make a girl smile!I have so many things to share that I had to break this up into a 2 part-er. Check back next Wednesday for my gift ideas.


Jewelry and accessories are never a bad gift idea. Consider:

Yoanna Baraschi

- Alexis Bittar
-House of Harlow
-Kara Ross 
-Sonya Renee
- Kendra Scott 
-La Mer Watches
-Yoanna Baraschi cashmere scarves
-A new bag or wallet- Rebecca Minkoff, Marc Jacobs, Kate Spade
 are all safe and wonderful options.




 I don't need to remind you about how fun it is to get something other than bills or catalogs in the mail: BirchBox, Sole Society gift memberships. I also just stumbled onto this brilliant idea: Macaron of the Month Club. I love macarons and would be so excited to get this every month.






Skincare Products:
These can seem like a basic thing in any woman's artillery, but they can be expensive and it's nice to indulge in a product we've been coveting for a while, but don't really want to buy ourselves.

Out of control amazing mask- Glamglow.

Josie Moran's Argan Lip Treatment. Fresh's Sugar Lip Polish , Rose  Face Mask, or signature Brown Sugar Body Polish.

Philosophy's amazing moisturizer (my favorite moisturizer), Hope in a Jar. I have been really happy with all the Philosophy products I have tried, but I really love their bath/shower gels (also serves as shampoo+conditioner). They come in so many delicious scents and aren't something I would normally buy for myself. My maid of honor gave these to all the girls who came to my Bachelorette Party in fun cocktail scents and I'm still enjoying my "Mimosa"!









Don't forget about nail polish! Girls love nail polish, especially some nicer brands we may not rush to buy ourselves- Deborah Lippman, Butter, and even a bag full of Essie would be great choices!

I have more ideas for you coming next week. Do you have any suggestions for women or anything special on your wishlist? I'd love to hear about it!

The Honor Bar

Hillstone Group is certainly not new news. Houston's has been around for years, Bandera's has held their own in the Brentwood area, and R+D Kitchen has even been around for awhile on Montana. South Beverly Grill opened maybe a year ago in Beverly Hills and I ate there with my husband about 6 months ago. The food is reliable and good. The Honor Bar is attached to South Beverly Grill and it's been on my list to check out for some time. The Honor Bar serves sandwiches, good ones at that, A salad, sides, sushi, a collection of cocktails and wine. It's not a culinary destination and you shouldn't travel an hour to eat here, but if you're in the neighborhood, and looking for a solid good meal, some jazz, a cocktail- this is your place. I really love the ambiance at The Honor Bar- it's sort of an eclectic, but classic feel with live jazz every night (loved the jazz versions of Stone Temple Pilot songs)- perfect for almost any situation. I went last night with a friend, M, for some much needed catching up and The Honor Bar was the perfect backdrop to our girl talk.

We both had wine- I had a red zin and she had the malbec, and shared house marinated olives, fries, and a double pork sandwich, The Henri. We were happy with everything and would have been happier with more fries.
 

Have you been to The Honor Bar? What did you think?

Danny & Annie

I hope everyone had a great weekend and ate lot of yummy things and made some headway in your holiday shopping. Monday's always a tough day and knowing I have some awesome tv to look forward to tonight certainly makes the day brighter.

I've been wanting to share this video with you for awhile. I saw it for the first time a few months ago and it was incredibly touching. Annie's story really warmed my heart and is so special. With the holidays in full swing, it's important to take a minute to get in touch with the truly meaningful things in life- the people who are close to us. You're going to want to keep a box of tissues close by!


Danny & Annie from StoryCorps on Vimeo.

What did you think?

Casa Azul

I've posted before on the lack of options for good eats near my work in Westwood. Fundamental LA is a favorite, but there are a few new places that I'm excited about. 800 degrees is owned by the Umami Burger team and that is "coming soon"- not soon enough. Casa Azul is the sister restaurant of Frida Mexican and opened last week. I was able to check it out during the soft opening this week, Grand Opening is January 2nd. The space is pretty, hip, and inviting. The menu looks great and I was really happy with the service.

 I went with 2 coworker gal pals and our first impression was how much we liked the look of the bar and the mural.

 The chips are warm and come with two salsas- a green and red salsa. I can't put my finger on what is in the red salsa, but it's unlike any other salsa I've ever had and really delicious.

Everyone was happy with their food, but there was a little glitch. I found a hair in my food as the waiter was setting it down in front of me. I mentioned this to the waiter who apologized profusely and took my food away to remake the dish. No one wants hair in the food, it's gross, but sometimes things just happen. My only expectation was for them to remake my dish, but my expectations were exceeded when the manager came by to apologize and took my lunch off the bill. I wasn't really put off by this mishap because the service we received went above and beyond. My coworker gal pals really liked their dishes and I was so hungry when my food finally came that I forgot to take a pic- whoopsie!

I was happy with the portion size in that it was satisfying and plentiful, but not glutinous. I would have loved to try either the tres leches or churro for dessert, but we had to run and we were stuffed!
I'm thrilled to have a good Mexican restaurant to walk to for lunch or happy hour and will definitely be back!