Hella California

After the hoopla of the Mimi G. Sewing Conference, I spent Monday and Tuesday ‘sploring the city. Some people aren’t solo travelers; that ain’t me. I can totally get my wanderlust on and traverse anywhere, anytime by myself. Between finalizing production of the new Madalynne Intimates and promoting my latest Simplicity patterns with Simplicity, I haven’t given much glimpse into my normal, non sewing life.

First, let me tell you about where I stayed during the conference – The Standard. What a neat spot. Originally the headquarters of Superior Oil, the architecture mid century modern. My favorite. There’s a rooftop pool, bar and beer garden with amazing views of the city, ping pong and foosball, and a yellow on yellow on yellow restaurant. For anyone who is super jet lagged, I suggest the avocado toast. Muy bueno.

On Monday, I hit up the Flower District. I love fresh flowers, but any plant that comes into my house dies. Succulents included. Probably a good thing because my cats would destroy it within 2.2 seconds. Sage and Basil are smart little rascals and can open doors, cabinets… they can even flush the toilet. I’ve found them in the dishwasher a few times. Whoops. Back to the Flower Market though. All the stores are on Wall Street and close at 12PM, which left me time to stop by Poppy + Rose , which is across the street, for lunch and then head to the Fashion District, a couple blocks away for one last round of the fabric stores. I swooped up loads of pom pom trimming. Literally can’t get enough pom poms in my life right now. I even scored 100YDS of pom pom elastic for $12. I didn’t even know pom pom elastic existed! Incredible find. I got a couple gifts for friends back home then hopped in an Uber to go to my second all time favorite spot. My first is home with my dad.  When I was in 8th grade, I took a summer class at UCLA. I hated, hated, hated Los Angeles at the time, particularly Westwood and DTLA, but fell in love with Manhattan Beach when I took a day trip. It’s cute, chill, quaint. I’ve been to LA 3 times in the past 3 years and during each trip, I made it a point to go. As soon as I got to the AirBnB, I dropped off my bags, put on my Converse’s and rode a bike down Gould Avenue along beach. I was in heaven. Hog heaven. The onshore breeze… the smell of sand. Got myself a cupcake too. Yolo.

I woke up on Tuesday and you know what was nice? Not having a damn thing I ‘had’ to do. I went running, got breaky, and then met up with Natasha from Bra Making Supplies. We geeked out about underwires, lace, elastic… you know, all the things normal people talk about.

If you know me, I bring my camera everywhere. No really, everywhere. So before I headed to the airport (took the red eye home, which sucked), we stopped by the beach to take photos. Found a couple of girls skating around, which made for some great shots. A good conversation too.

I’m still jet lagged as I write this post, but those 2 days to just be me was just what I needed. Anyone need a bra maker in Manhattan Beach? Take me back!

If you’re interested, you can see all my photos from the trip here.