Vegan Shoes = Cool Julia

Yay! I received a new pair of shoes in the mail today, and they're vegan! I'm so cool. So this is my very first pair of vegan shoes ever, and so far, I like! My friend Julie turned me on to Cri De Couer. It is an ethical footwear company. She is a designer for the brand which, "provides stylish, contemporary women’s footwear that is ethically produced from start to finish." And yes, they are quite stylish.



I tried them on already and they feel great. I can't wait to get home and check them out in the mirror and try them on with a few outfits. This purchase really made me feel good about myself. It's a win-win situation. I get to indulge in my shoe fascination (I was going to use the word obsession but it just has a bad connotation now in days) AND, I get to help the Vegan cause. See, win-win...


Check out the website when yo get a chance and buy something. You'll feel like a better person for it :)

Look at this!

For most people that know me, know one very important thing about me. I love food. There's no way around it. Food is definitely one of my passions. I enjoy food in a very intense way. And I'm not discriminating, I enjoy all types of foods from all parts of the world. Go ahead, name some part of the world and trust me, I like something from there. And if by chance I haven't tasted something from that part of the world, believe me, I will some day. I'll bet you one dollar.

Now that we've placed our bets, let me tell you about my trip to Fairfax in Los Angeles, aka, Little Ethiopia. This is the second time I've been to this particular restaurant and let me tell you something.....I like it!

The place is called Meals by Genet and the name couldn't be more literal. Genet is the chef and owner and she,with the help of maybe 2 assistants, prepares every single meal. I had been craving it since the last time I went and I finally got the chance to go again with some friends and this is what we got:

I can't even begin to tell you about all the little things around the tray, but they're all yummy, just trust me. What I can tell you about is that thing on the top. It's Dorowot - spicy chicken stewed in red pepper sauce with ethiopian butter. It comes with hard boiled eggs and it's absolutely, fantastic! So we ordered the vegetarian combination tray with some steak that you see off to the left side (it was super yummy too) and the Dorowot. I could eat Dorowot every day. I might even name my first and only child Dorowot. Sorry Ludovic, you're out...

So, we ate our Ethiopian food with a giant, spongy tortilla that comes like this:

When we first went to Ethiopian, we thought it was our napkin. Then we realized it was a delicious spoon!

We had a wonderful experience. I left the place stuffed. And as we walked out the door, I already wanted to go back...

Birthday Bonanza

This weekend I celebrated two of my friend's birthdays. I feel such an overwhelming sense of gratitude towards God for allowing me to have such wonderful people in my life. Man, now I wanna cry. Ok enough of that.

First up to get super old is my friend Monica Harmonica. She is a way cool girl with great hair and a great personality and I love her even if she doesn't appreciate anything involving seafood. We went to Jr. High together, lost touch for ages and now we communicate pretty much everyday. She makes my days at work go by faster with her funny stories and her obsession for old furniture shopping.


To celebrate we went to a really cute place in Pasadena called La Grande Orange. They have the best White Sangria in town, so of course we had to have a pitcher, or two, or three :) What's better on a Friday night, than a little celebrating and gossiping with good friends? I can't really think of much...

Second up? My friend O'ryan. This birthday was quite monumental for her. She was turning the Big 3-0!


O'ryan and I IM all day long about everything from fashion, to what's for lunch, to weird or funny video links she sends me. Once I told her about this video that shows some political dude blowing his brains out on live tv. After that, I stopped suggesting links. She pretty much does all the link sending. And I'm ok with that :)

Saturday night we went out to Silverlake (hipster paradise I like to call it), to this cool bar called Barbarella. I like hanging out in Silverlake. I hang out there every now and then, as to keep my coolness meter in a high range, but sometimes I think Sliverlake just doesn't get me. I can't really put my finger on it, but when I do, I'll elaborate further...Wait, it maybe that I haven't been able to get into beer, I wear too much lipstick, and actually enjoy watching stuff like "Say yes to the Dress". Hmm, that might be it, but I think there's more.

Ok so back to my friend O'ryan. We had the best time celebrating her birthday with about 100 of her closest friends. No joke, I'm positive she knew pretty much everyone that showed up, on a personal level. That's just the kind of gal she is, knows A LOT of people (but not in an obnoxious way). So when she has a birthday, everyone comes out to celebrate with her. She's super terrific, I love her and I'm glad she's my friend and doesn't judge me when I eat King Taco for lunch 3 times in a row...

Screw you Summer!

A couple days ago a few friends and I decided it would be a great idea to go to the beach and layout, read, people watch, actually get in the water...None of this happened.

We get to Newport and it's overcast, and a little cool. We say no biggie, it's only noon, Im sure it will clear up. We stop by Trader Joes and also make a trip to the Shake Shack, before we put our toes in the sand.


I had the best chocolate banana shake. Mmmm...











My friends Julie and Rahnia take us to their super secret spot of Newport that nobody goes to. Well, it was jammed packed. There were like 6 school buses parked near by and it took us 10 minutes to find a spot. We finally find one and make our trek down to the beach. We find a place amongst all the kiddies and the large umbrellas and park our butts. First thing on the agenda? Eat! We were all starving. We eat and talk and then everyone decides to lay down and get some sun, only the sun still wasn't out. I tried reading my magazine, but I was too busy wondering if the sun would ever come out. My friend Karen asks if anyone wants to get in the water - Juju, Karen and I walk over. I get one foot in the water and i'm OUT. It was freezing! I decide I'm heading back to lay out and this little, snot head, 3 year old, splashes me with freezing water. And then she laughs about it! Grrr, I walk away super bitter. Not too long after, Karen and Juju are in tow. And apparently Juju had a similar story to tell about that little girl. The rest of the time we were there, we were keeping an eye on that trouble maker with her polka dot bathing suit and matching headband. Her cuteness wasn't fooling any of us. We were on to her.

So we're all back on our towels, trying to get some rays (they were nowhere to be found), all of a sudden we notice this:



Hmm, it doesn't seem super funny now, but trust me, it was hilarious. That pigeon was hanging out there forever. And the people didn't notice it at all. We were waiting for them to notice and it never happened, the pigeon just walked away...But I swear it was really funny!

After that hilarious incident, we kind of all looked at each other and decided that the sun wasn't going to come out and we better start heading home.

Overall it was a great day of hanging out with friends, but Summer didn't cooperate one bit. I think Summer forgot we're Southern California. I think we're going to take another crack at a beach day next month. Hopefully Summer doesn't disappoint, again. But if it does, at least I'll have a chocolate banana shake in my hand, that won't melt right away :)

You really eat that??

Last night I went hiking with Juju and Danny. We did Echo Mountain in Pasadena. The trail we hiked is 2-1/2 miles one way and it's up hill the whole way. I'm in pretty decent shape, but boy was it a struggle the whole way up. My face was bright red. I was a mess. We didn't make it all the way to the top, but we got pretty close. We decided to turn back at about 2-1/4 miles. We pretty much ran down the mountain on the way back. Juju was upset, she doesn't like going downhill. I was dying to get off the mountain. I was hungry.

We had decided before our hike that the perfect dinner spot, after our hike, would be Roscoe's Chicken & Waffles. Or as the cool people call it "Scoe" (Steve told me this is the cool way). That was pretty much the only reason we went hiking, so that we could have "Scoe" after the hike and not feel super guilty.

So Steve and Rochelle met us up for dinner (they didn't go hiking). I got a little carried away and ordered a drumstick, 2 wings and a waffle. They ended up giving me an extra drumstick. I think they could see the hunger in my eyes. Well everyone else pretty much ordered a variation of the same, but they got white meat, "a succulent breast", as Juju likes to call it.

Mid way through dinner Juju remembers that I like to eat chicken cartilage. In particular the big piece that is connected to the breast bone.

They look like this:

p.s. I can't believe I found this pic. It's a cartilage kebob!












They are delicious. So Juju offers me her cartilage and I take it happily. I was hoping she would offer it to me because I would never ask for it in public, but she does and I eat it up. Everyone else at the table looks at me like I'm creepy, primarily Rochelle and Danny, Steve already knows I'm creepy. So Danny's like "really? You eat that part?" I say, "YES I love it. My cousin Erik and I used to fight over that part when we were younger". We're a family of creepies, apparently. At this point I have no shame, I start looking at everyone's chicken breast for more cartilage. It's not like we're at a fancy dinner, we're at "Scoe" in our sweats, Right?

At the end of dinner I convinced everyone that they still love me and will still be my friend despite the fact that I like chicken cartilage. They kind of agree, and we move on. It was a great night of hiking, eating and sharing. And Juju was nice enough to take the last 2 lonely pieces of chicken home.

Stinky Brooklyn

While in NY on this last trip, we decided to take the subway to Brooklyn to look for a cheese shop called Stinky Brooklyn. Apparently it had a following and we were told we should check it out. We arrive in Brooklyn and start our hunt. Walking through the streets of Brooklyn I feel good and I feel cool. A different coolness than I feel when I'm walking in Manhattan and people mistake me for a new yorker and ask me for directions. That always makes me smile, even though I can't ever tell them how to get where they're going. Sometimes I try to make the rouse last as long as possible and I pretend to look around, like I might know in what direction to send them, but alas, I never do and they walk away disappointed.

But Brooklyn, I don't know how to explain it but I feel like the air is even different in Brooklyn, it's not glitzy and full of itself. I like that I can almost see myself living there. We stop to get a drink (as we always do anywhere) and we end up at this little cafe. We sit outside and chill. I look around and take it all in. There are some brownstones in front of us. Somehow the people in the neighborhood have closed off a block of their street to let their kids play and get wet on the street. I'm not sure if this is legal but they have parked a car on each end of the block and everyone seems to be ok with this, and so am I. You make the best with what you've got and you make it work. You don't have a yard for the kiddies to play? Just close off the street for a few hours :) We had a nice time drinking, talking and people watching.

So back to Stinky Brooklyn. We make it to the tiny shop. It's nothing to write home about. BUT all is not lost. On the way to the shop we happen to bump into this indie fair. It's small but has a lot of awesome stuff. I fall in love with this clutch I must have. I actually fall in love with all of the designer's bags, I want them all, but Shteve makes me pick one. I get this one:

Front & Back

I love it! I just wore it the other day and it made me feel all indie chic. The designer Lola Falk has a website. Check it out when you get a chance and buy me The Jackie Bag...

www.lolafalk.com/

Green with Envy....

Last month I tagged along with Steve (my fiance) and his mama on a work trip. Goal: to visit the Fancy Food show going on that weekend and sample all the great food products from all over the world and hopefully discover something new and exciting (Steve and his mom are in the food business fyi). Well, that was their goal. My goal was to explore and eat as much as possible. Also to maybe do a little shopping, but only if it came up and I bumped into a store or two...

We arrive on a Friday night and after a 3 hour drive from Newark to Manhattan, we get to our hotel, freshen up, and meet up some friends at a really yummy Spanish restaurant we love, Mercat.





We had the best time eating and talking and drinking cava. After dinner we decide to take a little walk and I bump into this:



This shoe store looked amazing. I wanted to go in so bad, but it was midnight. I did some window shopping and had to walk away.

I didn't catch the name of the store, but next time I go to New York, I must go back. It's very close to Mercat on Bond St. in Noho. If anyone happens to visit, let me know about the experience and bring me back a pair of shoes. I'm a size 8!