Los Angeles/Santa Barbara

I landed at LAX late on Wednesday night and after surprisingly heavy traffic for Wednesday at midnight, I couldn't have been more excited to dive into the matouk sheets at my aunt and uncle's house.

Top row: My aunt and uncle's gorgeous family room and dining room - you can't see the herringbone wood floors in the dining room but they were amazing 

Bottom left: In my uncles office/library they used an awesome green color with exposed beams and the coolest ski print

Bottom right and middle: LA has awesome home shops

My sister Tory and I woke up early on Thursday and went to brunch at Vida, a local favorite in the Pacific Palisades, and indulged in huevos rancheros and blueberry corn cakes. Lets just say this was not the last of our indulgences. We shopped on Robertson and had lunch at the Ivy, which was yummy but expensive as expected. Reiss was having amazing sales and we really cleaned up there. We stopped into the Johnnie-O store in Santa Monica and got to say hi to everyone and check out their new digs. The new store is so perfect. Thursday evening we stopped by the Beach Club with my uncle Chris and then had the most delicious meal at Giorgio Baldi. I was beyondddd spoiled his trip. After dinner Tory and I met up with one of my favorite people from Cornell, Chris Sheridan, at Shore Bar.

Friday we ate lunch in Venice at an awesome little spot called Gjelina, where we had awesome flat bread with mushrooms, goat cheese and truffle oil as well as kale salads, a buratta, prosciutto and grilled peach number and cappuccinos. We shopped around Venice and then went to Hollywood to peak in some vintage shops and home stores (my fave). After a quick nap, Tory and I ventured to the new Nobu in Malibu. We dressed to the nines (expecting a celeb sighting or two ) and were rewarded by a brief glimpse of Mel Gibson and Brooke Burke-Chavret. The food was also to die for and if you ever go make sure to request to sit outside (pretty impossible but worth it) and make sure you order the yellow tail with jalapeno.

Saturday morning we drove up to Santa Barbara for the most amazing wine tour and stay. We were with an eclectic group and, as with those kinds of things where drinking is involved, made fast friends . It was a perfect day and we stopped at 4 awesome wineries. It was one of those trips that doesn't even seem real in hindsight. We stayed at the most adorable inn that I'm dying to go back to on a more romantic weekend. The Upham is the kind of hotel that puts out cheese, crackers and wine at 4pm and everyone sits out and just enjoys an hour of quiet. We ate way too much in Santa Barbara and shopped around and then drove back to LAX. It was the most amazing weekend and really made me think about moving out to the west coast one day. It's just such a different pace than NY. Granted, everywhere is a different pace than NYC but still. My sister can't wait to move out there in January or June and I wouldn't hateeee to follow her out there :)

 That's all for now. I'm having a big group up to the lake this weekend and then Riley is visiting the weekend after so, to be honest, life is good. Why does summer have to end?!