Luxirare's Minimalist White Dress with a Twist

A few days ago Refinery 29 did a post on their favorite blogs. I knew about/followed many of their picks, but a few were new to me. Probably my favorite blog I discovered from that post was Luxirare, which is a blog and a brand. The girl who writes the blog and designs the clothes has pretty much become my hero. Her creativity and aesthetic are very inspiring. Today I saw this post, and it made me want to reinvest in 90s minimalism immediately.

The dress is so simple and beautiful, but with a twist! The twist is this guy was used around the waist...

PS: I will be MIA for a few days. I have this huge paper due on Friday, and despite my best efforts, I have not been able to make it write itself.

PPS: Since I won't be around on Friday to remind those of you who live in LA, I'm reminding you now. Don't miss Current Affair the vintage pop up shop is this weekend! It is awesome. Definitely try to make it out. I'm going to go on Saturday night as a treat to myself for finishing this paper. I think I'm looking for a statement pendant or a ladylike handbag, but we'll see what's there.

Bags of a Different Color

I'm usually not a purse girl. I mean, I love beautiful handbags, but if I had the choice between spending my last dollar on a pair of shoes or a purse, I'm always going to pick the shoes. Yet lately I've seen some rainbow bright handbags that I am finding irresistible. The pop of color just makes me smile. Right now I've just got 1 black bag and 1 brown bag, but I think summer I will add some color to the mix.

* Celine (as seen on Garance Dore)
* Louis Vuitton duffle and Hermes travel bags (as seen on The Coveteur)
* YSL, Chanel, Hermes, Balenciaga (as seen on The Coveteur)
* Chloe clutch (as seen on Citizen Couture)
* Celine (as seen on Citizen Couture)
* Chanel (as seen on The Coveteur)
* 3.1 Philip Lim KC satchel (as seen on Garance Dore)

This last bag is the one I think I might splurge on this summer. I think it's absolutely perfect! (Plus the Chanel and Hermes are just a wee bit out of my price range.) According to some website I found that was very poorly translated into English, this bag won't be available until June. I hope I can find it. I've seen it in black, light blue, and tan, but I only want it in this beautiful hunter-esque green.

The Lower Antelope Valley Slot Canyon

Continuing on with pictures from my spring break hiking trip, here is the Lower Antelope Valley slot canyon. If you don't know what a slot canyon is, don't worry. I didn't either until I was inside of one. This is what the slot canyon looked like from the outside:

Not a very impressive sight, right? But then you climb down inside, and it is amazing!

There's our shadows as we climb out. Also did you notice sometimes the rocks look like people or animals? Being in the slot canyon was kind of like cloud watching. Could you see the Indian chief, the buffalo, and the woman? If not, I highlighted them below.

Next up are pictures from Zion National Park, my favorite part of the trip! I'm so excited to share!

Sparkly, Shimmery, Glittery Shoes!

Dolce & Gabbana A/W 2011 from Garance Dore.

Marc Jacobs oxford, Sartore lace-up oxford, Maison Martin Margiela Line 22, Boy by Band of Outsiders metallic oxford, CO-OP Barneys New York stamped python oxford, Miu Miu glitter oxford. All from Barneys.

Miu Miu A/W 2011 from Garance Dore.

Christian Louboutin Pik Pik, Yves Saint Laurent Tribute, Christian Louboutin Fifi, Christian Louboutin python Very Prive, Fendi pleated peep toe pump, Miu Miu glitter pump. All from Barneys.

I saw these two pictures on Garance's blog during her fashion week coverage, and I fell completely in love. Now I am dying for a pair of oxfords and a pair of pumps with some major bling! Maybe by the time I start getting my paycheck this summer at least one of these pairs of shoes will have gone on sale.

The Grand Canyon through a Different Lense

My best friend (who owns an old film Nikon) always says that digital cameras got rid of the great photographers and gave us instead a bunch of good amateurs. Now whether that is true is certainly debatable, but when it comes to me, she's 100% right. I love photography, but I know nothing about it beyond how to work my point-and-shoot and the very limited editing programs I have on my computer. But sometimes I really like what I come up with, even if I have no idea how to achieve the same effect in a dark room. (Emphasis on the sometimes because you should see the hundreds of crappy photos that I trash.) Anyway these photos are my favorite edited images from the Grand Canyon. You can see some of them unedited (or less edited) in other posts. They may not be the work of a great photographer, but they make me happy.

Tomorrow I'll be moving to posting about something else. So fear not, if you are bored of looking at canyon pictures!

Second Day at the Grand Canyon - South Kaibab Trail

Bright Angel Trail was great because it takes you to Indian Garden. Not only is Indian Garden quite a sight to a person who's been staring at rocks for hours, its also equipped with much need shade, water, and hand sanitizer!

But (I think at least) South Kaibab Trail is definitely more beautiful overall. The views are far more expansive and the rock formations are just cooler. We only hiked about a mile down this trail to Oohs and Aahs point before we had to turn around and get ready to leave. I can only imagine what we would have seen if we had kept going.

This rock layer was actually pink! The layers look like a sunset.

El Tovar + a Tip for Visiting the Grand Canyon

A few shots from the El Tovar Hotel at Grand Canyon Village. If I were going to come back to the Grand Canyon, this would be my dream trip -- I'd take a rafting trip down the Colorado to the canyon, camp for a few nights so I could hike the bottom, and then come back up and pamper myself at the El Tovar. It is the nicest hotel in the village, and it has some pretty quality garlic parmesan fries at the cocktail lounge! I'd love to try their main dining room.

PS: Here's a really good tip about eating at the Grand Canyon. There's only 3, maybe 4 restaurants in the village (depending on renovations/seasonal closures). And there are way more people who want to eat at those restaurants than there are seats. We tried to go to dinner around 7 and got turned away from 2 restaurants and cocktail lounge before finally getting at a seat at the El Tovar cocktail lounge after waiting 15 minutes. The lesson is, if you don't make a reservation somewhere, you need to eat really early or really late. Otherwise you are going to wind up at one of the less than stellar cafeterias.

Bottega Louie Brunch

Bottega Louie. I know I've said I get tired of it since I've been so many times, but really it's classic. Jeremy and I took Lynne for brunch when she was here. I got a great poached salmon salad, but I'm not going to lie, I was eying Jeremy's french toast pretty hard.