sprinkles.

have you made a trip out to beverly hills lately? if not, then i highly recommend it. once you push past the tourists ogling the rodeo drive sign, you can make your way to the line of people that stretches down santa monica boulevard. they wait for good reason.

sprinkles cupcakes is considered the, 'first cupcakery,' and caters to us LA people who have a sneaky sweet tooth. the bakery has since gone gone nationwide with beverly hills as the flagship store, which...just recently opened up an ice cream parlor, as well.

um, yes please.

the ice creams are extremely flavorful {try them first!} and intense, while the team puts together a 'cupcake sundae' that pretty much became my lunch/dinner. it was just as full of decadent goodness and calories as you may imagine. but it was oh-so yummy.

the store switches out ice cream and cupcake flavors daily, so you don't have to worry about this being any old cupcakery. instead, you can look forward to chai or dark chocolate or coconut...it just depends on the day of the week. make sure to pick up a calendar before you leave! {we promise. you will be back.}

**we got a dark chocolate cupcake with mint ice cream. what kind of sundae are you going to create?

 {ice cream recipe}

{love the fun layout!}

 {a sundae from heaven.}

{sharing}

{it didn't last long..}

remember the days...

...when a saturday night meant picnics and swimming and too hot soccer games? yeah, i miss them, too. summer is still hot, but it's filled with high utility bills and car stick shifts that burn through sweaty hands. to cool off a few weekends ago, a couple good friends and i spent a bit of time in a hollywood cemetery.

valencia is a darling place to live, but not very temperate. so...i like to head down into LA to cool off. it's usually a good five to ten degrees cooler, which is a huge difference for me (i can't take the heat. at all.). if you're in the LA area, make sure to speed right past valencia and head down towards the beach or downtown, where there are millions of little coffee shops (this one is my favorite!) ready to stick an iced chai in your hand and let you cool off in their icy air conditioners.

or.

spend some time in a cemetery.

okay, well. it might sound a bit morbid. the hollywood forever cemetery is located on santa monica boulevard, right in the heart of the city. it has expansive lawns, high walls covered in ivy and tombstones that look like they're straight from the movies. which, of course, they actually could be since the cemetery grounds back up to paramount studios.

every saturday night during the summer, cinespia hosts a movie night on the lawns complete with a dj and wine before the film. they show movies from every decade, but we decided to go the night that they screened, "sunset blvd." not only is the movie super old and eerie, but the film took place right in the heart of hollywood. it was so fun to watch a grainy black-and-white that was filmed mere blocks away. whenever they mentioned something that was iconically, "hollywood," (aka: the sign, hollywood blvd, etc) everyone started cheering and clapping.

so. much. fun.

it's exciting to know that we live a mere twenty minutes from one of the most talked about places on earth. if you get the chance, ditch the touristy stuff and come hang out with us locals in a cemetery. we don't bite, promise!

if you do come, however, here's a couple tips:
1. come early, leave late. traffic is intense.
2. don't park in the cemetery. it's way too expensive. (we parked for free on N. Gower Street!)
3. bring some snacks. the atmosphere calls for them, honestly.
4. you can't forget those tiny lawn chairs! you can't bring big ones, but you won't see without a little one!
5. people watch. have fun. listen to the crazy music. it's really a great place to be.

ps: we're headed back to see one of the last movies of the summer, "dirty dancing," on september 1st. so, if you have the chance, make sure to pack a picnic, grab a blanket and drag some girlfriends along for a night to remember.

{i really like these people)

(waiting for the show to start}

{too short to see. i was teased, a lot.}

{movie time}

LA crazy(ies).

it's wednesday, and i feel like i am still recuperating from the weekend. every morning is a strain. but, of course, the weekend in hollywood was more than worth it. it was time for a dearly departed tour with the college roommate, a couple crazy independent drives through benedict canyon (up cielo drive! yikes!), and a few hours to relax on the beach in malibu before sunday afternoon dimmed into evening.

it was an amazing couple of days that i WISH weren't over.

we visited the grave of marilyn monroe on the fiftieth anniversary of her death, and still found time to eat at the now famous el coyote and catch a movie at the hollywood forever cemetery. i don't think our weekend could have been more intensely, "los angeles."

here are a few pictures that might paint a pretty good picture...and i promise. in-depth stories/moments of laughter/utter joy posts are coming soon.

 (the gorgeous sunset in the cemetery)

 (hanging out with scott - published author/dearly departed founder/hollywood fanatic)

 (visiting natalie wood's grave)

(the denny's where the manson family celebrated with chocolate shakes :: yes, morbid. i know.)

(beach with the best friend//ps: i'm in love with these red sandals. thanks, taza!)

adventures on monday nights.

mondays are supposed to be boring. they're supposed to drag you out of bed, slap a cup of too-cold coffee in your hand and make you stumble into the office. but, of course. they don't have to be like that. when i was in high school, my little brother and i used to drive to school together. sometimes it was good, other times it was a bit angst-y. then i read somewhere that if you go through your life hating mondays, you end up hating 1/7 of your life.

okay, okay. pretty understandable, right?

but who wants to hate that MUCH of their life? It's kind of a lot, if you think about it. so little brother and i started going to starbucks every monday. it was a treat that we could look forward to, and it has since morphed into a tradition that i keep myself.

sometimes monday will be movie night. other days, i'll drag the best friend deep into the city with me, like this week. with our soon-to-expire groupon, we made our first trip to actually watch a movie at grauman's chinese theater. you've all heard about it.  it's the one place on hollywood boulevard where you can stick your hands into the germ infested hand prints of the stars. (if you're still unsure, you can check it out here, here, and here.)

it was kind of hot, and lots of crazy. hollywood is always amazing (i would LOVE to spend some time living in those hills...), but on mondays the amount of tourists fall dramatically. we only had to step off the stars on the street once for a camera wielding family, and there was only one parking mishap with a snotty lady from kansas (you can't ignore someone in an la parking garage, for ten minutes. we'll knock on your window).

okay. so it's friday...you can spend some time planning your monday adventure. i've been thinking about mine all week.

(family time in hollywood. *note: no cameras!) 

 (our flirty chewbacca friend. he insisted on a picture.)

 (taking a picture with my fellow blonde)

 (best friend)

(the theater. huge and gorgeous.)

(yes. we were the nerds loving the powder room...)

farmer's market addict.

okay, i think there could be a slight problem. i might really like farmer's markets. it doesn't matter whether they are on a hot street in newhall, off the road in the middle of  i-5 or in the san francisco sunset district. they're amazing. how can you not like a cute, rustic layout with lots of yummy california fruit and flowers?

i might have a little/big obsession.

a couple of weeks ago, the best friend and i had the chance to visit friends and family in the bay area. and...we might be going there next week as well. just don't tell my car.

tucked away in the sunset district, we found a darling little side street with rickety carts and lots of local farmers with long hair and gravelly voices. it was lovely. we people watched, considered signing a petition {we didn't ;)}, and brought home wildflowers and homemade soap.

i already love san francisco, and then somehow we accidently managed to stumble on the cutest local market in the city. this could prove to be a deadly combination for my heart. it's at times like these that i think on the sweet blessings that God has in store. sometimes i think i have seen it all, and then He surprises me with another little gem. i am so grateful.

{all the people. heaven.}

 {sleepy sundays and coffee shops}

{strange colored cauliflower? the best.}

{flowers and brick stairways: they belong together}

 {only some well timed words from the best friend kept me from buying all of these...}

{pamela soap? yum.}