Highlights: Sprinkles of Joy

Posted in Cocktails, Explore, Film, Food, Fun, Treats by C.

All That Glitters is a blog I developed to celebrate life, even if it’s in the smallest of daily pleasures and happenings, and to always find the sunshine. What I’ve come to like about writing these posts is that I’ll stop, notice something, think “this is a highlight!”, try to capture the moment visually, and in that brief minute my perspective changes. Since I write these posts at least once a week, it also forces me to always keep my eyes open to the positive around me to find my “Highlights.”

I didn’t want to end on an unhappy note right before Christmas after yesterday’s entry, so I’ll share a few special moments that did bring sprinkles of joy during trying times:

{Every time I look over at my Christmas tree.}

{Meeting a friend for a glass of sangria during happy hour at Pink Taco. I couldn’t get over her strawberry margarita served in a pineapple shell! It made me smile. My sangria was great but came in a mason jar. :)}

{Getting lost in Breaking Dawn: Part 2 for a few hours on a rainy Friday night in Century City. Pretty cheesy flick (as they all are), but I’m a fan of the books and like to see the films.}

{One last evening spent at The Grove to get some hot chocolate and much-needed Holiday cheer.}

{On a particularity chaotic morning, I can’t tell you how amazing it was to stop in to Jamba Juice and treat myself to a large orange juice. Nothing beats fresh squeezed.}

{The best gift wrapped present I’ve gotten so far.This sweet box of Godiva chocolates from a work colleague. Loved the leafy detailing.}

All the very best for a happy and safe Holiday season! 🙂

18Dec2012

AXE Restaurant

Posted in Breakfast, Brunch, Explore, Food, Fun, Lunch, Uncategorized by C.

Location: 1009 Abbot Kinney Boulevard, Venice

Abbot Kinney is one of my favorite boulevards in all of Los Angeles. A short strip of quaint clothing shops, home decor boutiques, stationary stores, restaurants, bars, and cafes; fused together by a much more laid back L.A. vibe – thanks to the pacific ocean just 1 mile away.

Near the tail end of the boulevard, I recently spent a Sunday afternoon with 9 of my friends to celebrate a birthday at AXE (pronounced “ă • shay” I later learned). The menu is all about clean eating; using fresh, local, organic ingredients. The dining space promotes simplicity with a salute to earthiness. I have to give it to them when it comes to their intention with the design of the space and thoughtfulness in developing the menu, read more here.

For brunch, I went with the 9 grain pancake and a side of the crispy potatoes. One of the girls brought a bottle of champagne to share with the table to toast. Talk about Sunday Funday! I can’t think of anything more awesome than champagne and pancakes on a Sunday afternoon.

{Hello champagne.}

{9 grain pancake.}

{Crispy potatoes.}

Pros: Great atmosphere, awesome location, organic food, surprisingly not too pricey.

Cons: Took forever to seat our group despite our reservation (after waiting 30 minutes I went in and complained – lo and behold our table was ready); I was happy with my dish but the food wasn’t anything super special; service was slow, and the wait staff was pretty nonchalant and unwelcoming, with no sense of urgency at all, it took forever to get our food.

Overall: I enjoyed (as always) adding a new “been there, done that” to my LA restaurant list, but due to the vibe from the wait staff and food that was just okay it’s not someplace that I feel the need to ever return to. Especially, when my favorite place, Jin Patisserie, is a 5 minute walk down the boulevard. AXE really needs to work on service and their unwelcoming attitude. Oh, and I can’t believe a place like this would give a table of 9 a hand-written bill that was hard to read. I’m all for being more earthy, but get a machine to tally receipts. It’s 2012!

14Dec2012

Highlights: Holiday Inspired

Posted in Explore, Film, Food, Fun, Treats by C.

It’s amazing how literally everything around you changes during this time of year to bring the spirit of the holidays alive. Magically, green and red colors infiltrate your world, the make-overs in store window fronts and shopping malls prompt you to spend away, Christmas trees pop up all over town, homes glow from the sparkle of lights at night, and egg nog, peppermint, and gingerbread everything become all the rage. 11 days until the big day. Here are a few Holiday themed highlights that have been making the season extra festive:

{Starbucks’ new holiday themed paper cups.}

{“Operation: watch tons of Christmas movies” has been going well. So far I’ve watched 5 festive flicks, including this fun stay at home and get cozy comedy, The Holiday.}

{These adorable reindeer made from real Christmas trees.}

{Goodies received from a recent holiday party gift exchange.}

{Gifted homemade toffee crunch.}

30Nov2012

Highlights: End of November

Posted in Dinner, Explore, Film, Food, Fun by C.

Things have been going so well lately, that I don’t want to jinx it by even talking about it! November was an exciting month: the election, our visit to San Juan Capistrano, and Thanksgiving were huge successes. Here are a few recent small pleasures and sightings that added huge smiles to end a happy month:

A stop at The Counter for a custom-made burger and yummy fries last week before catching a flick over in Century City, had me try something different this time between the bun: cranberries! Let’s just say, it works. Yum!

While I don’t personally have formal Christmas dinners, I would totally use these cute flatware stockings that I saw while perusing Crate and Barrel on my Holiday table. They’re so festive!

These adorable snowman cookies I saw while in line for a latte at Starbucks. The best part: the scarf!

Christmas music has officially entered my life once again. My favorites: Josh Groban’s Noel, Mariah Carey’s Merry Christmas, and Pandora’s Christmas Station.

I hope November treated you just as kindly. Have a great weekend! 🙂

28Nov2012

Snow in L.A.

Posted in Explore, Film, Food, Fun by C.

Location: 189 The Grove Drive, Mid-City

Without question, my favorite place to be in Los Angeles after Thanksgiving leading up to Christmas is a shopping center of all places. You read that correctly, a shopping center. And not for the obvious “you live in L.A. so you must be the poster child for consumerism while sipping your soy latte” reason you’re thinking (okay, there would most likely be a latte involved – minus that other stuff). When L.A. needs some Christmas cheer, we get in our cars, sit in traffic, update our Facebook status frustrated about sitting in said traffic, and head to The Grove!

The Grove is the ultimate one stop shopping destination (though they seriously need to get on adding an H&M to the block, like. now.), but this isn’t why I’m in love with spending time here as we embark on the journey of the Holiday season. It’s because it’s the Mecca for getting my Holiday festivity fix…well, as much as a gal can get in L.A.

The day after Thanksgiving, we headed over to The Grove to enjoy how an outdoor mall transforms into a fantastical celebration of Christmas. Lights everywhere, wreaths hang from lamp posts, and large ornaments suspend from rooftops right above you. Santa’s huge ~~Mansion~~ Cottage, complete with a digital “now serving” ticket numbering system (not kidding!) as you head inside the doors to give Santa your list of demands, sits at the center of it all. (Oh, what I would ask Old Saint Nick for now as an adult!) Music fills the air; and on that particular Black Friday night, fog was appropriately present enhancing the festive vibe. All this leads you toward the grand finale: a 100 foot tall white fir Christmas tree beaming with more than 15,000 lights and 10,000 ornaments. And it’s real, I’ve checked.

{Santa’s ~~L.A. Mansion~~ Cottage.}

{Standing at the base of the infamous 100 foot white fur Christmas tree!}

My personal favorite (though I’m sure super cheesy to those reading this from everywhere else in the world with actual weather) is the faux snow that drops every night at 7:00pm and 8:00pm as you walk about The Grove’s main street. It takes the whole experience to another level; and in this moment, I’m like a kid again, believing in the magic of the Holidays. 🙂

{Faux snow floating in the air.}

I urge you to make at least one trip to The Grove this Holiday season (if you’re in town) to experience the magic for yourself and hey, pick up a few gifts, or better yet – make it a dinner and a movie date night with someone special. There’s something in the air that a blog post nor pictures can accurately capture. Just be sure to be outside The Pacific Theaters at 7:00pm to get the only glimpse of snow in L.A. you’ll likely ever see.

Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays!

27 days to go…

{Snow falling at The Grove.}

27Nov2012

Georgetown Cupcake Comes To L.A.

Posted in Explore, Food, Fun, Treats by C.

Location: 143 South Robertson Boulevard, Mid-City West

The opening of a new cupcake shop is almost (read: almost) as exciting as opening a Christmas present. What will the store look like? What flavors do they have? How well dressed (read: decorative) will the tiny cakes be? More importantly, how awesome will the experience be when you take that first bite? Let’s just say I wasn’t disappointed.

Georgetown Cupcake couldn’t have picked a better location to open its doors a little over a week ago. The shop sits on the very trendy, very busy, and VERY expensive Robertson Boulevard shopping district (read: rich people’s playground), Beverly Hills adjacent.

All my questions were finally answered a few days ago after a long anticipated wait, when we stopped in for an afternoon treat and unwrapped Georgetown’s sweet present. The store was very simplistic and welcoming in design; lots of white walls, with minimal artwork (all pictures of cupcakes, of course), hardwood floors with only a few tables in-store to sit and enjoy your frosted covered carb.

My favorite thing about Georgetown was the display of cupcakes sitting right in front of you, fully stocked, and perfectly organized in a way that made you want each and every one of them. One of my pet peeves with Sprinkles and other major cupcakeries in town is when you walk into the store and the bakery display is nearly empty, instantaneously making you feel like the flavors you want are already out of stock for the day (many times they are, other times they haven’t replaced stock yet). Not at Georgetown, they didn’t even grab our order from the counter display as they had tons of cupcakes sitting on racks behind the counter. Cupcakes everywhere! This made me happy. 🙂

{Cupcakes everywhere!}

Since I was between pumpkin pie feedings left over from Thanksgiving, with more than half a pie to still get through, I splurged on just one cupcake this time around – the lemon blossom. This cupcake was amazing; moist, flavorful, and my favorite part, lemony.

{Lemon Blossom.}

{First bite.}

I will add for my wheat intolerant friends, that my boyfriend didn’t seemed as impressed with his gluten-free lava fudge cupcake. He had issue with the frosting, and while saying that he would come again, he left Georgetown still a loyal fan of Cupcakes Couture in not so close-by Manhattan Beach for his wheat-free fix. I, on the other hand, literally had an internal dialogue in my head talking myself out of buying another.

When I’m done digesting all of the food I ate over the long holiday weekend, and detox all of the pumpkin pie still sitting in my body right now (too much info?), I’ll be back.

Welcome to L.A. Georgetown! I’m sure you’ll like the weather.

19Nov2012

How I Custom Designed My Own Pizza

Posted in Dinner, Explore, Food, Fun, Lunch by C.

Location: 12103 Ventura Boulevard, Studio City

So I know that turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce are all that’s on the brain this week, but I just had to share the great news with you! I cannot at all take the credit for this awesome find, my boyfriend told me about it, but the moment we stepped inside I knew pizza would never be the same. It was described to me as the “Chipotle for pizza!”

Pizza Rev sits not too far from the corner of Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Ventura Boulevard in Studio City. Its motto: craft your own pizza. My motto: I’ll take everything on mine!

{Making the dough.}

{Over 30 toppings to choose from.}

Interestingly, the decor reminds me a lot of Chipotle, down to the buffet style ordering set-up as you move along in line to build your own pizza, starting with their homemade dough. Next, choose your cheese, choose your sauce, and then choose your toppings. The thrilling thing about this place is that for $7.95 you can put ANYTHING you want on your personal sized pie. The sky’s the limit. Naturally, I went overboard as one does with a buffet of toppings to choose from.

{Building mine!}

For our gluten-free friends, Pizza Rev has you covered. While a small $2.00 increase comes with ordering their wheat free crust, unlimited toppings more than make up for it. If you’re too tired to create your own (and who in the world would these people be?) you can also order from their “Our Way” menu and stick with the basics.

{In the oven.}

A short wait while your custom designed pizza cooks in their open deck oven and you’re out the door. I crafted a regular dough pizza with olive oil, mozzarella, feta cheese, ricotta, all beef pepperoni, ham, spinach, tomato, mushroom, pineapple, and black olives! Told you, I went overboard, but O.M.G. was it delish!!

{My finished custom designed pizza :)}

15Nov2012

Mission San Juan Capistrano

Posted in Explore, Food, Fun by C.

Location: 26801 Ortega Highway, San Juan Capistrano

Hands down, one of my favorite days from this year will be Sunday, November 11th, 2012. For my boyfriend’s birthday, we enjoyed a sunny 60 mile drive to The O.C. to spend the day in the remarkable city of San Juan Capistrano to visit the 7th Spanish Mission established in California in 1776. Words cannot express the spirituality, the history, the enduring exquisiteness, and breathtaking grounds surrounding us that day.

Thankfully, we walked the property taking the time to listen to the audio tour (click here to listen online), which not only educated us about what we were looking at, but why the earth that we were standing on was significant. It brought the experience to life. From learning that the California wine industry originated at the mission while looking into the large vat used to stomp grapes; to sitting in The Serra Chapel, that’s still used to this day for worshiping; to walking through the cemetery’s resting place for 2,000 souls; and then standing among the ruins of the Great Stone Church after the December 1812 earthquake, was an overwhelmingly special opportunity.

After spending a few hours at the mission, we walked the town of San Juan Capistrano, perusing gift shops and an awesome antique mall before heading to an early dinner at El Adobe restaurant.

I scored an antique vanity tray for my bathroom from the antiques mall, had a wonderful dinner, a new education about Mission San Juan Capistrano, and an unforgettable day with my boyfriend. As they say, “a picture is worth a thousand words” and I took 131 of them! It was difficult to narrow them down for this post, but I hope that they capture why this was such a special day. Make it a point to see the mission if you’re ever in the area. Until then…Enjoy!

The Mission

{Exterior.}

{Statue just outside The Great Stone Church ruins.}

{The Great Stone Church Ruins.}

{Corridor.}

{Heading to the Central Courtyard.}

{The Central Courtyard.}

{How the California Wine Industry was born.}

{Archway near the wine vat in the industrial center, perhaps for grapes?}

{Industrial center blacksmith tools.}

{Staircase.}

{The Central Courtyard.}

{Corridor toward The Serra Chapel.}

{The Serra Chapel.}

{The Serra Chapel Altar.}

{The cemetery and Father St. John O’Sullivan’s resting place.}

The Town

{Strolling the San Juan Capistrano city streets.}

{Stopping into the Antiques Mall.}

{Interior, Antiques Mall.}

The Restaurant

{El Adobe Restaurant.}

{My dinner: Southwest Cabo Salad.}

{His: Nachos.}

14Nov2012

Cupcakes Couture

Posted in Explore, Food, Fun, Treats by C.

{Old store front and new.}

New Location: 1120 Manhattan Avenue, Manhattan Beach

When heading over to my favorite cup-cakery to grab treats for an upcoming birthday a few days ago; I was excited, then bummed, then excited again, then nostalgic. Explanation?

Excitement: sneaking to Manhattan Beach to grab surprise gluten-free birthday treats for my boyfriend. Bummed: a “we’ve moved” sign greets me. Excitement: reading the rest of the sign, “…down the street.” Nostalgia: missing the charm of the old shop I’ve come to love.

Cupcakes Couture, the bake shop that I rave about to all of you, has moved. Luckily, it’s only down the street and into the Manhattan Beach Creamery. I’m sure such a move will be great for business because it’s in a prime location to attract tourists strolling the beautiful sidewalks of Manhattan Beach Boulevard.

{Cupcakes Couture’s gorgeous new view from the store front.}

{Likes: these super cool chairs and this eclectic chandelier.}

For an old fan like me, there was something so charming about that little shop that I’ll miss. As you would enter the store, directly to your right was a large glass window, where you could see the pastry chefs working magically to create the most gorgeous cakes. To your left, a large glass display filled with a variety of the best dressed cupcakes in town would welcome you. There was such a fun, flirty design to the store that made it a great place to visit.

I can certainly understand why the owner, who recently blogged about her change of venue, was excited about the upgrade in light of her growing family (and let’s be honest, a scoop of ice cream while enjoying a cupcake is never a bad idea), but moving into The Creamery lost a touch of that charm I loved about the original location.

I later learned that the move was on November 1st. Perhaps since I visited the new set-up only 9 days later attributes to some of my unhappiness with the new location. The counter didn’t feel put together, boxes were strangely arranged in random places, the sign hadn’t even been put up over the booth, and the decor felt cluttered. I’m sure once the team settles in, that fun and flirty nature will return to Cupcakes Couture’s new spot in The Creamery. Hopefully, this was just a visual glitch. Otherwise, the rest of The Creamery, housing a gourmet ice cream station, specialty desserts section, and candy racks everywhere has a unique vibe that works – those awesome chairs and that chandelier were my favorites.

{Cupcakes Couture’s new station.}

{The Creamery store view.}

The most important fact of all, and what will keep me coming back for more, are that the cupcakes are still some of the best I’ve ever had; great tasting, moist, with a flair in design. The executive pastry chef duo that creates and bakes is the same, so what is ultimately special about the best cupcakes in Los Angeles remains untouched. This makes me happy.

{The best dressed cupcakes in L.A.}

I’ll keep you posted on how things finally turn out once we give Cupcakes Couture some time to settle into The Creamery. I know I’d be disappointed if someone reviewed my apartment after just moving in! Stay tuned…

{Sunday Mimosa cupcake.}

12Nov2012

Highlights: Last Week

Posted in DIY, Explore, Film, Food, Fun, Treats by C.

What a crazy week as I look back on it.The weather was indeed fickle last week: warm one day, then foggy and rainy the next, then cold and sunny. In the midst of the strange weather patterns, the election, the AFI film festival, and prepping for my boyfriend’s birthday, I always took a moment to enjoy the small things. Here are highlights from last week:

{A very unusual looking L.A. skyline for us. With the weather came my first few cups of earl grey tea.}