Train featuring Ashley Monroe - Bruises

One of my favourite songs.. Hope everyone enjoys it too.

Happy New Year everyone :)

Zie

I found it!!!

I FOUND THE BACKPACK!!!!!!!!
It's an MCM Large Sprinkle stud backpack
a whopping $745.00 USD at Bloomingdales!!
WOW I guess I wont be getting this super cool backpack anytime soon. lol

I want this backpack!

can anybody help me identify this backpack? i want it!

I made chai tea spice!!! :)

The cold holiday season is my favorite season to sip on warm drinks while decoration watching all around the city. I tell ya, Beverly Hills has some of the most absolutely beautiful decorations in town. especially on the wilshire/ rodeo intersection... where I used to work. so lovely. Anyway as I stroll all over town my warm sipping beverage of choice??? a chai tea latte with soy milk. I've always stopped at starbucks or coffee bean to order my holiday cup of warm steamed milk with chai spices and I always wondered what goes into a chai tea... I happened to watch one of my favorite magazine tv shows "Steven and Chris" (If you live in Canada, I am sure you know of this show) and they happened to invite a very savy guest that had a few gift giving ideas for under 28 bucks!! one Idea was to make this chai tea spice mix and give it out as gifts in little jars you can purchase at the dollar store. I was more interested in the tea blend. Determined to finally make my own chai tea spice, I went to the steven and chris website and got the recipe for the chai tea, went spice shopping and finally made my chai tea spice mix!! I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO glad I bought that coffee grinder a few years ago. I forgot it at my mom's place when I moved out a couple years and she's made use of it grinding roasted dried barley for tea, or black peppercorns. It's great for making dry rubs too!! Anyway, I came back to my moms to use my spice grinder and the aroma was strong and so full of many different flavors combined in one jar. super cute!! I will take a picture of the finished product later. In the meantime, here is a picture I took of the spices I used for my chai tea... look how lovely!

Check out the recipe for Chai tea spice mix!

3/4 cup green cardamom
2 Tblsp black peppercorns
3 Tblsp cloves
3 Tblsp ground ginger
2 Star anise
4 small (3inch) sticks of cinnamon

combine all spices in a bowl, add spice mixture by the spoonful at a time to a spice grinder or a coffee grinder. grind until the mix becomes a powder consistancy grinde in batches!


Like hot chocolate instead?
check out this recipe for peppermint hot chocolate you can also assemble in layers in a mason jar, dress it up, and give as gifts!

Peppermint Hot Chocolate
Mix In a Mason jar, place a layer of unsweetened cocoa powder, followed by a layer of granulated sugar, a pinch of salt, a layer of mini chocolate chips, and a layer of mint chips, which you can usually find at your grocery store during the holiday season. Recommend adding marshmallows or crushed candy canes if your grocery store doesn't sell mint chips. You can use a piece of parchment paper as a funnel to pour the ingredients into the jar. Cover the jar with its lid, and then dress it up with a tag and some instructions so that the recipient knows how to make Peppermint Hot Chocolate.

coolest christmas house ever!!!!!!

We have all seen some "all-out" homes when it comes to christmas lights and decorations. 2 days ago my sister took me to see a house she likes to pass by and see. The owners of the home go all out. their entire front yard is completely boarded up and in a matter of days, the boards come down and what is revealed is an entire town of mini christmas decorations and a running train!!! this is absolutely spectacular!! I have to give them credit for having the patiece to put up all those details every single year!! I took a couple pictures but the entire thing was too big for me to capture in one shot.They also set out these benches on the side walk so that people can climb on top of them and see the entire "snow" covered town. Its so beautiful!!

Check out my pine cone turkey!

For Thanksgiving, my sis brought the family some feathers, a glue gun, little eyes, and a bunch of pine cones for us to make turkeys out of. She then took those turkeys and made them part of the decor for her thanksgiving dinner table. I made this one... LOL what do you think? My thanksgiving was very tiring. I cooked all day and cleaned all night and ended my night in my sister's Jacuzzi LOL it was AWESOME!! LOL How did you all spend your thanksgiving?

The Standard Hotel was fun

Picture above: rooftop pool @The Standard Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles My very good friend Jesse was depressed because his girlfriend left him so he rented a room at The Standard Hotel in downtown Los Angeles and invited me over to hit the roof top party out there. I went and it was fun. We played ping pong on the rooftop, chilled by the pool, talked to some strangers and took in the sights... very relaxing evening. We took a stroll around Pershing Square and visited the Biltmore Hotel. It was beautiful check out some pictures of our night out.

Picture above: my friend Jesse @ The Biltmore Hotel Downtown Los Angeles

Picture above the Biltmore Hotel ceiling.

Picture above: looking down from the rooftop of The Standard Hotel

Entrance lobby of the biltmore hotel

Jesse @ The Standard Hotel rooftop taking a break from our ping pong game.

Halloween was .... O..K... I guess..

Sorry I didnt post for Halloween, I didn't take pictures and that's because there was so much going on that I just didn't have time to do so. This halloween I was Cleopatra. My roommate and I went to the West Hollywood Halloweeen Parade and checked out all the cool costumes. He got drunk of course and I babysat him all night. I do have this fear of him getting hurt or even killed or jailed. I try to watch out for him when he's drunk cuz I dont want to be the one that has to call his mom in France and say 'your son is dead or in jail" I could NEVER bring myself to make a call like that; that is why for halloween i was the sober one and he was blistered dressed as a runaway bride. ha ha ha ha! he had a wedding dress on that we went shopping for. He also bought a tiara and a "diamond" necklace to compliment his dress. it was hilarious. I tried to go buy him some food so he can sober up a little bit and every time I came back, there was always some guys trying to take him home with them. I had to keep scaring them off. ha ha ha ha ha anyway we didnt take pictures of us but i took this one when i got home and washed all the makeup off. I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween!

I love my snake bracelet lol my roommate bought me that lol

Check out my lovely ravioli!!

I made goat cheese and lemon ravioli. Thank you Mr Yotam Ottolenghi, for sharing this recipe with me. I did replace the pink peppercorns with pomegranite since it is in season and I couldn't find pink peppercorns. I am looking forward to getting his cookbook titled "Jerusalem" from London next year. YAY I'm excited about that book! I cant wait. lol So what do you guys think of my ravioli?

LAILA (SoLo) MADE IT TO LOS ANGELES!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

I am absolutely happy to report that SoLo, our dear fellow founder of SoHo Meets SoLo has finally made it out here to Los Angeles with her family!!! We didn't get to spend too much time together because it was a one week thing with her and her daughter's pageant so I only saw her and her family for a few hours on their last night out here. non the less it was super fun. we didn't take pictures though... only 1 picture that her son took of us.... a candid picture lol. YAY!