Day one:

I was  kindly invited to the launch party for Sugarfina’s newest boutique in Pasadena. How lucky am I?! Shawn suggested I Invite my darling friend Alexis to go with me and make a girls trip out of it. We have both been to Cali a bunch of times but have never gone together! Shawn was happy that I had a girlfriend to go with that enjoys cupcakes and shopping as much as I do. He was also thrilled that he didn’t have to play the role of purse holder, haha he is such a good man! Anyway, we had two days to pack in as many restaurants and sights as we could and L.A. didn’t disappoint! When planning the trip I knew the first and foremost thing I wanted to do was eat at The Ivy Restaurant. It’s located on one of the trendiest shopping streets in the area, Robertson Boulevard. Kitson, Intermix, Alice + Olivia, Rebecca Taylor and Tory Burch are just a few of the chic stores lining the boulevard. The boulevard’s epicenter is without a doubt the oh so L.A. restaurant, The Ivy. **Tip, make reservations a few days in advance and request a table outside on the patio.** It’s definitely a place to see and be seen! I ordered crab cakes and a ceaser salad it was without a doubt up to par. After lunch we stopped by Georgetown Cupcake and then headed to Rodeo Drive for a little shop shop! Diptyque is one of my absolute favorite Parisian Parfumeurs so we of course had to stop by. Exclusively to their store on Rodeo is their Beverly Hills scent that is divine and I highly recommend it! After we had shopped for a bit we took a side street to eat more cupcakes (yes, we are sweetaholics ) at Sprinkles. BEST CUPCAKES EVER! You haven’t lived a full life until you have eaten a red velvet Sprinkles cupcake with red velvet ice cream! We both bought quite a lot of cupcakes but to be fare I brought one home for Shawn and a pupcake for my lil pup Lucy. My little family needed to experience Sprinkles too! After we had our fill of dreamy heaven, A.K.A. cupcakes, we decided to head to the touristy part of L.A. to visit Hollywood Boulevard and Grauman’s Chinese Theater. It was quite a unique experience to say the least…haha! We got to see the stars of Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe, Lucille Ball and Katharine Hepburn. I adore old Hollywood starlets, can you tell?! Our next adventure was driving in the insane L.A. traffic to get to Pasadena for the Sugarfina Launch Party. I have no idea how my parents travelled without GPS when we were younger. It was a strenuous drive but it was totally worth it once we made it to the Sugarfina in Pasadena! Ritzy sweets, new friends, and great conversations made the launch party unforgettable! Check out my review of the fabulous launch party here. For dinner we ate at a delicious Italian eatery located across from Sugarfina called Il Fornaio. It was the perfect end to a fun filled day!

The-Ivy-Beverly-HillsThe Ivy

Friends-at-The-Ivy

The Ivy table

Kathryn-cheers-at-The-Ivy

Crab-cakes-at-The-Ivy

Georgetown-Cupcakes-store-front

Kathryn-at-Georgetown-Cupcakes

Georgetown-cupcakes

Rollin down RodeoRodeo Drive

House-of-Bijon-on-Rodeo-DriveOh so chic store front at House Of Bijan

Diptyque-Beverly-HillsInside Diptyque on Rodeo

Kathryn-at-Sprinkles

Sprinkles Ice Cream Sandwich

Kathryn-at-Audrey-Hepburn's-Star

Audrey-Hepburn's-Star

John-Wayne's-prints at Grauman's Chinese TheaterI Love Lucy fans will know why this is funny!

Wig-shop-on-Hollywood-BlvdWig life on Hollywood Boulevard

Sugarfina-sign

Launch-Party-for-Sugarfina

Friends-at-Sugarfina-launch-party

Rosie-O'Neill-of-SugarfinaThe lovely Rosie O’Neill

Day two:

The next day we stopped by Sugarfina one more time to take some photos of the gorgeous store before we headed to the Brentwood area. The first stop we made was at one of my long time favorite stationery stores, Sugar Paper. Their chic store is located at the Brentwood Country Mart alongside other trendy shops such as James Perse, Jenni Kayne and Calypso St. Barth. Nearby is the eatery Lemonade that serves southern Cali comfort food and a variety of juicy lemonades! The eatery has a few locations around the L.A. area and is perfect for a quick and tasty lunch. We next headed to Santa Monica to check out the famous pier at the beach. Santa Monica has such a chill vibe and had a plethora of things to do and see! The pier was very touristy but we still had to check it out. I bought a sugary churro and then we headed onto the pier’s ferris wheel where we could see far across the beach as well as the top of the city! We could not stop laughing because we were having so much fun on the ride. We headed back to our hotel after that and fell into a deep sugar coma/sleep.

Kathryn-at-Sugarfina

Sugar-Paper-at-Brentwood-Market

Sugar-Paper-Los-Angeles-designInside the chic Sugar Paper stationery store

Sugar-Paper-LA-display

Sugar-Paper

Fathers-Day-Sugar-Paper-LAStationery for Fathers Day

Interior-design-at-Sugar-Paper-Los-Angeles

Kathryn-at-Sugar-Paper-LA

Kathryn-at-Lemonade

The-Sugared-Lemon-at-LemonadeLemon earrings on The Sugared Lemon while drinking a lemonade from Lemonade!

Santa-Monica-Beach

Friends-on-the-Ferris-Wheel-

All in all it was a fabulous trip and I couldn’t have asked for a better friend to go with! Now the question is… where should we travel to next?!

Have a lovely day and happy travels,

~Kathryn, The Sugared Lemon