Destination: Palm Springs, CA...

Finally, a travel post! Feels like forever since I've had a vacation or even a mini vacation.. You'd think after moving to the mainland I'd be gone every single weekend at the pace I was going living in Hawaii.. I had to go out to 29 Palms, CA for a work assignment but the nights are mine when the work is finished... We opted to stay in Palm Springs since 29 Palms didn't exactly have a whole lot of options as far as hotels go. GREAT IDEA!! I had never been to Palm Springs and was excited because we got to stay at the ever so infamous Ace Hotel and Swim Club!! This made the trek from San Diego to 29 Palms all worth it! That's a three hour drive... phew! Far for this girl where you could drive to the furthest point of the island in about 45 minutes..

On the way to Palm Springs, we passed a million windmills.. they seem to go on forever.. so cool..


The streets of Palm Springs...


Upon check in, I already knew what to kind of expect from other bloggers and fashion editorials that have shot at the Ace Hotel.. I can't explain how excited I was just to see the rope display in the lobby.. AND a photo booth?! Take a gander..







After such a long day of driving and working, it was nice to finally check out the digs for the night.. All I wanted was to lay by the pool and relax and take in my super micro mini vacation.. Upon walking into the room, music was playing from the Eagle radio station... this was a pleasant surprise.. AND a fully stocked bar?! Too bad I still had to work the next morning..






Pool time...




Desert sunsets..



For dinner we headed to the King's Highway Restaurant.. A place that has a corduroy elephant for an accessory is A.O.K. in my book..





We wandered around the hotel... basically to find more photo ops and scope out the place.. Vespa to rent anyone??




The next morning we grabbed a little breaky at Koffi next door.. O.M.G. probably some of the best coffee ever.. and their bagel breakfast sandwiches are the shiz..


Tried getting a little artsy with my picture taking even though my little Sony Cybershot is pretty much shot.. Someone get me a new camera!!

...desert rain and desert sunsets are my all time fav...

Batter Up!!!

It's baseball season and with Petco Park so close and a trolley ride away from the apartments, it's hard to not take in a weekday game here and there.. A friend of ours got box seats during the Padres vs. The Nationals game and it was pretty darn awesome.. Hot dog anyone?! Pretty much a tradition at any baseball game I attend... Swing batta batta batta batta!!!






Inside the luxury little suite.. multiple game watching... TV and real life.. So spoiled..







Oh and now ice cream bigger than my head seems to be a new tradition...



...re-creating memories from my childhood of watching baseball games in the stands with my family and catching fly balls...

A New Vintage Dining Room... With Painted Upholstery!!

I purchased a settee off Craigslist and probably spent a little more than I should have BUT considering the ones in the antique shop in Ocean Beach were well over $500 I got a steal of a deal.. I bought it more out of impulse since it was priced reasonably in comparison to the antique shops I sifted through and was somewhat happy with the purchase.. not quite what I was looking for but close. I was piecing together a dining area because all the generic ones I had seen at furniture stores I just wasn't into. Too cookie cutter for my anthropologie taste. I already had the table I also purchased off Craigslist.. So all I had was this settee and the table. Next up was purchasing the remaining chairs. I bought the other khaki button tufted chairs with super pretty nailhead trim off Overstock which I'm very pleased about. After many months of staring at the dining room section of the apartment, I just wasn't satisfied.. there was just something wrong and cluttery about it all. I researched how to reupholster furniture and for this piece was more money I wanted to spend and too hard to do myself. I then checked out painting fabric.. was this possible and something I could do?? I stumbled upon Hyphen Interior, a blog that featured a wingback chair that was painted!! I thought long and hard what colors I wanted and if I wanted to risk painting a potentially high-valued antique piece of furniture. I finally went to the craft store and purchased the materials listed on the blog (minus the latex satin paint - opting for only acrylic paint).

Check out the goods (I forgot to include the Metallic Krylon gold spray paint I used).. I also had to buy a second bottle of textile medium:


Here is the before picture of the settee..


I followed the directions on Hypen Interiors except I skipped the latex satin paint and only used acrylic for all coats.. My first coat of paint.. The settee came with a roll pillow which I started on first to get an idea how the paint was going to go on the fabric.. After that first coat I was excited to get started on the settee...




This little settee took five coats of paint.. I didn't get it quite white but more of a gray with white because of the texture on it... I like that you can still see the pattern through the paint. Pretty sure I developed some form of carpal tunnel in my right arm from all the coats of paint...


After the last coat of paint dried I taped up the edges where I was going to spray paint the wood... Hot pink for a nice touch...


Right after spray painting it and carefully removing the duck tape...


The finished product!! I'm quite happy with the way it turned out.. At first I thought to myself, crap, did I just mess up a perfectly good piece of furniture? But after putting it with the rest of the dining table, it matches so much better! Pretty sure Coconut likes the new piece as well.. She matches too!!



How does painted furniture feel?? Well after five coats of paint it feels like a canvas you paint on. It's still comfortable to sit on, just not super soft.. I did use the sander to try and soften the fabric a little.. As I've read other bloggers post, it's like outdoor furniture feeling, but not really..

...taking something old and making it new and beautiful again...

Jersey Shore Tribute...

As a tribute to Jersey Shore Season 4 that is premiering on August 4th, we trained our little Westie, Coconut, how to fist pump.. Can't stop taking pictures and videos of the puppy, she's so darn cute!!! Yes, this is me admitting I watch Jersey Shore and love watching the train wrecks happen.. guilty pleasures at its finest..

Coconut's video premiere.. fist pumping in style as seen on the Jersey Shore..



...guilty pleasures make the heart happy...

MIHO.. Gastrotruck.. Movement..

A friend of ours invited us to their house because something called the MIHO Gastrotruck was going to be nearby.. Ummm, what? I had to google it to find out what the heck he was talking about.. I was mesmerized... "good food" out of a truck or glamified roach coach?! This is taken from their website.. "MIHO Gastrotruck uses fresh, local, and thoughtfully sourced ingredients to create hand crafted street food that is affordable, convenient, and delicious. We truly care about this kind of food, and we hope to share that love with our community". Being that I don't discriminate against food because I'm not a picky eater whatsoever, I wanted to try it.. It was one of the best burgers I'd ever had (with a side of fries). Totally felt like a family bbq but way better! We ordered our food from one side and picked it up on the other.. This truck uses the social media to let people know their location and parks for a few hours and typically if there is a watering hole nearby and you order from them, they give a discount on a drink or two. Bright idea!! We chose to head to our friends rooftop sanctuary and ate our food overlooking the San Diego skyline.. One of those perfect California nights..

Check the pics...




So pretty...


...sometimes you have to put your taste buds out there and be adventurous to try new things instead of sticking to "what you know"..

Movie Magic...

I was cast in a film called "You May Not Kiss the Bride" awhile back by an independent film company based out of Hawaii called Hawaii Film Partners. The film stars Katharine McPhee, Dave Annable, Rob Schneider, Tia Carrere, Mena Suvari, Kathy Bates, and a few other notable actors. I originally auditioned for the part that ended up being casted to Tia Carrere. I wasn't that disappointed that it went to the Wayne's World beauty, but they liked me enough to keep me and have me for the role of "Tahitian Counter Girl". I'm basically the girl that Dave Annable's character and Katharine McPhee come to for help when booking a flight.. it's a silly scene and we had a good time filming it! It was one of the coolest experiences I've ever had on set. I was actually treated like real talent! My own trailer, transport vehicle to the set to/from my trailer, first dibs at food, hair/makeup all provided.. if you've worked on set, you know how valuable these things are. The fact I had people running to get me coffee in the morning was mind boggling.. I got the whole sh-bang out of it too, attending the welcome breakfast where everyone runs through and reads the entire script together, kick off party that took place at Nobu in Waikiki, and the wrap party held at Oceans Club in Honolulu. I appreciated every second that I was there and super happy the film is coming up from it's indie roots and making its way to theaters. For now it has limited showings. It was recently featured at the Sonoma Film Festival and will soon have a special premiere in Hawaii in September. Word on the street is that it'll air overseas awaiting backing from a major film company to be released fully in the U.S. Fingers crossed it's coming to a theater near you very soon!!

Here are some pictures from the kick-off party..







Filming debut...



My very own stand-in.. she was blonde though.. not an exact match, but close!




Monkey business in my trailer...




Wrap party pics.. there was a camera guy walking around taking a ton of pics.. I need to track that dude down.. I didn't take a whole lot, but here are the few I did.. Heidi was my hot date...





Here's a screen shot from the film with me and Rob Schneider..



Poster!!



BONUS!! The trailer just came out for the film!! Yours truly made it to the trailer too!!



...being able to be part of the "biz" with such great stars and people who do this on a daily basis is truly magical...