Me Monday: Santa Anita, Roy’s & Halloween!

Happy Halloween! It was quite the eventful weekend! Starting on Thursday, Nick and I went to the races at the Santa Anita track.

We enjoyed a perfect afternoon with some great people and had an amazing dinner later on in the classic Chandelier Room.

On Friday night, we celebrated Rosalee’s (Nick’s Grandma) 90th birthday! We took her in a limo to a piano bar and had dinner and pina coladas at her favorite restaurant, Roy’s Hawaiian Fusion in Pasadena.

Saturday we celebrated Halloween in Hollywood. We did a club crawl which was super fun, but I wished I had worn different shoes, had I known all the walking we were doing!

 

I was a racecar driver and Nick was a NASCAR fan. (He doesn’t smoke…it was only a prop!) Colleen was a nurse and Tim was her patient. It was a fun night!

We ended up Pricelining a room and got one at the Avalon in Beverly Hills! It was super cool to stay there since one of my favorite designers – Kelly Wearstler – designed the place.

We enjoyed a delicious breakfast and bloody marys by the pool Sunday morning after a long night of dancing.

We were ready to head home just yet, so we spent Sunday afternoon lounging around on the rooftop of The Standard in downtown LA.

Afterwards, we ended up in Little Tokyo and ate some bomb sushi at Oomasa. Sooooo good! Best salmon ever. It was a super fun weekend, but it went by too fast!

AirFit Pillow!

The nice people over at Sleep Number contacted me and asked me to do a review and a giveaway and of course I agreed because who really doesn’t want a free $189 pillow? Right? I’m sure glad I did because this pillow is suuuuweeeet! It’s the Sleep Number® AirFit™ Adjustable Pillow in the CoolFit™ Foam option. It’s gel technology works within memory foam to create a cooler, more comfortable sleeping experience. These pillows aren’t available to the public yet, but I got a special sneak peek (cool!).

 

 

The Good: Love the memory foam! Always been a big fan of memory foam and I was super excited that I wasn’t getting a goose down pillow that looses it’s volume immediately after laying your head down on it. Love the soft, cushy pillow cover with the cute little pocket for the valve. OK…first I was like, that valve is weird and does it really work? Well, it’s not that weird after you cover it up and yes, it really does work! I pushed down on the pillow and a lot of the air out of the pillow came out and made it about 1/3 of the size it originally was. Super cool. I’d give this pillow a 9 out of 10.

The Bad: It smells. Now after a few days of having the pillow the initial smell has gone away, but when I first got it, it really smelled bad. I don’t know if it’s chemicals that they use or what, but you seriously have to air this thing out before using it. I washed the pillow cover and let the pillow air out for a few days and it was fine, but there was no way I could sleep that first night if I hadn’t. They actually have a warning and handy little instructions pertaining to this matter.

More about AirFit:
Let’s talk technology and options for a minute. This innovative pillow features an air chamber at its core that allows you to relax in your favorite sleeping position, while the pillow adjusts to find your ideal level of support and alignment. In other words, with this pillow, the comfort of air along with the personalization of adjustability will provide you with the most individualized sleep experience possible. Period.

The AirFit pillow is available in three options:

1. CoolFit™ Foam: Gel technology works within memory foam to create a cooler, more comfortable sleeping experience.
2. Memory Fiber: Memory fiber provides improved air circulation to help prevent humidity and heat buildup.
3. European White Goose Down: Resilient down clusters for exceptionally high loft and improved support for maximum comfort.

Thursday’s This + That: Home Decorator’s & Anthropologie

Color that pops!

Add a dash of color to your space with this Spiral Mosaic Rug while adding some color and style to your wardrobe with that Chivalrous Clutch from Anthropologie.

*as always, "Thursday's This & That", inspired by the creative Bekka from Oh Joy!

Wednesday Weekend Warm Up: Honey Crisp Apple Sangria Recipe

Yum, yum, yum! Doesn’t this look just delish? Perfect for an Autumn get-together this weekend! We’re celebrating Halloween on Saturday with some friends and I think this is the perfect concoction to get things started! It’s sorta a lot of ingredients…but most of them you probably already have in your cupboard!

Honey Crisp Apple Sangria

Ingredients

1. 2 Honeycrisp apples
2. One 750-milliliter bottle unoaked Chardonnay
3. 1/3 cup peach Schnapps
4. 1/4 cup pisco
5. 1/4 cup honey
6. 2 oranges, 1 quartered
7. 1 lemon, quartered
8. 1 lime, quartered
9. 2 cinnamon sticks
10. 2 quarter-size slices of fresh ginger
11. 3 cloves
12. 2 tablespoons sugar
13. 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
14. Ice
15. Club soda
16. Mint sprigs, for garnish

 

Directions

1. Peel, core and chop one of the apples. In a bowl, combine the Chardonnay, Schnapps, pisco and honey. Add the quartered orange, the lemon, lime, cinnamon sticks, the chopped apple, ginger and cloves and refrigerate at least 4 hours.
2. Strain the sangria into a pitcher. Peel, core and finely chop the remaining apple. Peel, section and chop the remaining orange. Mix the apple and orange in a bowl.
3. On a small plate, blend the sugar and cinnamon. Moisten the rims of wine glasses and dip in the cinnamon sugar to coat. Fill the glasses with ice. Pour in the sangria until three-quarters full. Top with a splash of club soda. Garnish with a spoonful of the chopped apple and orange and a mint sprig.

*image from here, recipe from here

Tuesday Thoughts {a quote + a pretty living room}

 

Fabulous! I love those rules! And that outfit. For real. So cute. And I’m loving this living room! Check out the blue trim on the window! Love that! Pops of yellow always get me going and I’m totally digging those seats/stools/side tables. You can’t go wrong with a brightly colored tufted sofa mixed with exposed brick walls, a hide rug, fresh flowers and chic lighting.

*click on image for source

Makeover Monday: Halloween Decorating

Do you decorate for Halloween? It’s one week away! I usually don’t decorate solely for Halloween, but for the Autumn season in general. I have a few skulls & crossbones thrown in the mix, but for time (and money’s) sake, I stick with pumpkins, sunflowers, spice candles and the like. Even though I'm not one who goes all out for this holiday, I love all the decorating that is happening and wanted to share!

   

<< click on image for source >>

Smile…it’s a (4 year) kind of weekend!

4 years ago today, I picked out the hottest guy in the bar, played some pool with him and have been with him ever since!

Not quite sure what we’re doing to celebrate yet, but I’m sure it’ll be fun because we always have a good time together! I hope you all have a great weekend!

Wednesday Weekend Warm Up: Ginger Apple Bourbon Recipe

I’m really not much of a bourbon gal, but I thought maybe some of you would enjoy this. It’s looks nice and “Fall-ish”. Might be the perfect little cocktail to sip on while carving those pumpkins!

Ginger Apple Bourbon

---> fresh cider

---> super-gingery ginger ale

---> Kentucky bourbon

2:2:1 ratio

*found here

Tuesday Thoughts {a quote + a pretty doorway}

    

Hmmm…whatcha think? Worth waiting around? It’s hard to have patience sometimes when you’re unsure of what the future holds. I try not to look too far ahead into the future and live in the moment, but there are times when my head gets in the way of my heart and things cannot happen fast enough!

*click on image for source