It feels like FOREVER since I’ve updated my little space of the world wide web here, because it has been a LONG time!!  I just thought I would pop in with a small update and give you a preview of what will be coming after this weekend!!

If you’re an independent/house/rock/hip-hop/folk music fan, then you are probably aware that this year’s music festival season kicked off a few weeks ago with SXSW in Austin.  This weekend is the first of two Coachella Music Festival weekends, and like every previous year that I’ve been fortunate enough to attend, I’m packing up my bags and preparing for a fun-with-a-lot-less-sun-filled weekend of music, weirdos and all around craziness!!!!

{typical Coachella weirdo}

Fortunately (or UNfortunately) the weather forecast  is extremely undesert-like (hence my more thoughtful packing job).

{not-so-hot desert!}

Here’s a quick visual preview of the plethora of musical madness featured this year at the normally quiet Indio, CA polo field:

{RADIOHEAD}

One of my ALL-TIME FAVORITE bands, Radiohead… if I could express the excitement through the screen right now, it would look something like this:

{vanity fair}

WOOHOO!!!

Other bands I’m super-duper-excited to see and hear:

{hip-hop legends Dr. Dre ~ Eminem ~ Warren G ~ Snoop Dogg}

Yes, the legends all on one stage – it’s going to be memorable, needless to say!

And then we round it all out with some good ol’ grimy rock.

{the underrated Black Keys}

So get ready, bon ami!!!  My Coachella recap promises photos, stories and possibly a few amazing videos of food, fashion and the FABULOUSNESS that IS COACHELLA!!!

And just because we all love it, here is the most classic-to-date Coachella video ever.  You’re welcome… for the second year in a row.  See you in the desert!!!!

♥ LBH

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We all know the ol’ adage, “For every door that closes, a new one opens.”  I can’t say how true these words are as of recent in my own personal life.  The universe works in mysterious ways, and after watching a door close, immediately a floodgate opened.

I work in marketing and advertising in my 9-5 life, and I now have the pleasure of working for an amazing agency handling the funnest account I’ve ever had the opportunity to work on: MUSIC.

{THE Madonna}

During my first day in the office, I sat in a meeting with Madonna’s staff.  Not too shabby so far…

{crystal cruises}

{crystal cruises}

And just to appease my love for all things glamorous, I also have the the great pleasure of adding to my roster of clientele the best cruise line in the world, as deemed by Travel + Leisure for the last 16 years: Crystal Cruises!!

It has been only one week, and I am just so very excited for the incredible experiences and stories to come.  I can’t wait to share them with you.

Je gagne!!!

I do hope you are having a wonderful weekend!  Unfortunately all this recent running around and change has brought me a cold that I’m trying to shake off this weekend, but I know by Monday I’ll be bright eyed and bushy tailed once again.

Until then, here’s to la belle vie, bon ami!!

♥ LBH

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It feels as though I have been running every day, and unfortunately I haven’t had a chance to update my little space here.  Fortunately, my mother is feeling much better, and so I’m very thankful for that.  And luckily, in between all the running around, I have been able to finish a couple home projects, one of which I am soooo excited about!!

Remember being a kid and playing with your coloring books, markers and crayons, and then discovering that you had amazing blank canvases in your house where you could create your brilliant works of art?  You probably also remember the big trouble you or your siblings got into for turning those walls into your childhood art gallery.

You have probably seen recent home improvement blog posts like this one on Apartment Therapy about kid-loving chalkboard paint and chalkboard walls in homes that provide hours of entertainment and a true gallery for their masterpieces.  I decided to use the chalkboard paint to create a functional wall in my kitchen, where finding a lose clean piece of paper nearby while I’m cooking or cleaning is nearly impossible.  Now I have the best and most convenient post-it-note ever!!

Here are a few pictures of this very fun and very easy project:

Now I never have to worry about jotting down a quick note to myself that I’m out of milk, peanut butter, olive oil, paper towels or anything else that I notice I need throughout the day of cooking, cleaning or other.  And not like when I was a kid, this girl will never get in trouble for drawing on this wall!

You can find chalkboard paint at your local home improvement store like (my personal favorite) Lowes.  Depending on the size of the wall you want to paint, it can take you a few minutes to prep the wall with sandpaper and tape the trim, and twenty minutes to paint a first coat (it will go on very streaky and thin, but that’s okay – a second or third coat will cover it beautifully).  After an hour or so, you can paint a second coat, and after another hour a third if you need it.  Then two or three days later, you can christen your chalkboard wall by writing on it with chalk and wiping it off, thereby dusting it and making it ready for your everyday scribbling, drawing and reminder note writing!

Do you have a chalkboard wall?  Where would you paint a chalkboard wall?  And who would use it more in your home, you or your kids??

I hope you have a wonderful holiday weekend, bon ami!!

♥ LBH

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The last week has been quite crazy and chaotic, and it has kept me away from my blog.  So much has happened, both good, bad and other.  The GREAT news is my mom is feeling better, and we’re hopeful that the doctors can find the cause and best treatment for her blood pressure.  But I’m so very excited about some incredible recent developments!!  My career path has taken a most amazing slight shift towards another one of my biggest passions: music.  So get ready for some fab blog posts about my passion for awesome music, which goes so well with my fashion, design and art loves.

During my week of absence, the boy and I dined at Jiraffe (yes, with a “J”), a fabulous Santa Monica restaurant that should definitely be added to your go-to list for LA dining.

**Apologies for the low quality images – I only had my camera phone with me while dining, but I can assure you the quality of the food was exponentially better than it looks!!

Jiraffe has been a Santa Monica sure bet for dining since 1996.  Offering a delicious and inspired menu of French dishes with local Californian influence, Jiraffe manages to pleasantly surprise diners with unexpected and unpretentious flavor combinations.  Here are the mouth-watering DineLA play-by-plays:

~ delicious with some great unexpected flavor combinations.  Great start to the meal.

~ perfectly cooked, tender and tantalizing… should have been called an appe-teaser!

~ although the raviolis are hard to see in my poor photo, I can tell you they were wonderful.  The earthy combination of the mushroom and gouda in a blanket of creamy sauce was delectable.

~ the salmon was light and moist, and the caponatta sauce was an explosion of fresh basil, parsley, garlic and lemon.  I wanted to lick the plate clean.

~ it was like warm molten lava cake, but lighter and not as overpoweringly sweet. Heaven.

~ moist cookies and creamy ice cream.  We were just missing the cold milk!

~ this was by far one of the best desserts I’ve had in a long time.  And this is coming from a proud chocola-holic.  I could eat this dessert everyday.  The bananas weren’t overly ripe or sweet, the cream filling light, and the crust was flaky and perfect.  It was all just perfect!

In case you wondered, the waiter brought the one dessert we didn’t order on the prix fixe menu, but said it was ours to enjoy anyway.  We certainly didn’t NEED the extra dessert, but we definitely didn’t turn it away either!  Not to be forgotten or overlooked was the excellent service we also received.  Our waiter was pleasant and warm, and made our wonderful evening all the more wonderful.

On your next trip to LA, be sure to swing by Jiraffe for a guaranteed fabulous meal.  I can’t wait to get back there soon.  And as a matter of fact, my new career path has brought me within blocks of Jiraffe – this could be a bad great thing!!

See you there for dinner, bon ami!!

♥ LBH

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I hope your first month of 2012 was a great start to a great new year!  January was definitely eventful – lots of home improvement and organization projects, and even though I still have some work to finish, I am extremely happy about what I’ve accomplished thus far.  After Super Bowl Sunday, I’ll have my Sundays back to finish up more of the projects on the list!

Meanwhile, here in LA we’ve been celebrating DineLA Restaurant Week for the last week, something I’m always looking forward to.  Last night’s treat was an exclusive dinner at one of LA’s hottest nomadic eateries, LudoBites 8.  Although not a participant in DineLA, this is the eighth iteration of the pop-up restaurant.  For any who aren’t familiar with the name Ludo Lefebvre, he was a featured Top Chef Master during its second season, and locally in LA he has been known as a French culinary genius-slash-down to earth rockstar for over ten years.

Thus, until this eighth round of pop-ups, getting a seat or two meant being ready at your computer on the day and minute that reservations opened, and refreshing your page over and over again, hoping you could be a lucky winner (a la Ticketmaster!!).  But FINALLY… my number was called and I was fortunate enough to be one of the 5% who successfully snagged a reservation via raffle (BEST and most fair idea thus far).  LB8 definitely proved to me why this reservation was SOOO difficult to come by.  And the wait was worth it: check out the mouth-watering pictures below!!!

 If you happen to get an opportunity to try Ludo Bites during a future iteration, you will thoroughly enjoy it.  The flavor profiles were delightful and very unexpected, a combination of classic with new, all on a platter free from pretentiousness.  AND for those in or around LA, you can always chase down Ludo’s food truck for a taste of his talent.

I have a couple more restaurants on my DineLA list this week, and I can’t wait to share more delicious greatness with you!!

Until then, bon ami, have a wonderful week!!!

♥ LBH

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It has been a busy week for me, but I’m happy to say my mom is here resting with me and with the family, and we will be visiting her longtime doctor for a second opinion and hopefully some good advice on how we can keep her healthy and vital.  Thank you all again for your kind thoughts and prayers – it has definitely helped!!

In between all of the chaos, I’ve been feeling a bit blue – not a sad blue, but rather a soothing happier blue, like turquoise.  Perhaps it is because of all of the gorgeous images I’ve run across lately.  In fact, I’m already feeling the ‘bedroom makeover’ itch because of a few of these pictures.  Take a look!!

Well I’m off to be with the family and make sure my mom takes it easy.  Perhaps we will do a little shopping since we’re so inspired by this beautiful turquoise color this week – a little bedroom or kitchen makeover?

Here’s wishing you all a beautiful ‘turquoise’ day in your own belle vie!!

♥ LBH

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{caitlin doyle}

Bonjour!!

First, I want to thank all of you for your kind words, thoughts, prayers and support for my mom and family.  I am so happy to say that she has been released from hospital, and I will be seeing her in just two days (she doesn’t live in the country, but fortunately she is clear to travel, and I can’t get her back home to the US fast enough!!).  It’s a great relief to know she is feeling better and we now know what we need to fix.  I am so grateful to the wonderful hospital, doctors and staff who took care of mom.

After speaking to her over the weekend and between the tears for fears (no pun intended!), my mom did encourage me to stay busy and not worry since she was feeling better and would be home soon.  Just like a mom, she made me promise I would get back on track with my 2012 Project Harmony, and so I did!  This weekend I was able to tackle the hallway closet and bathroom a bit more, as well as do some rearranging and purging from the bedroom.

I am so happy with the results!!  The hallway closet is no longer a pit of darkness, and it can now accommodate far more, including part of a certain better half’s future wardrobe !!  I even experimented a bit and added a little chevron pizzazz – I’ll be finishing the linen closet with the same stylish touch.  The hallway closet was the test.  It’s a lot of work, and it’s one more reason that my better half thinks I’m nuts loves me for being nuts, but I love it!!

Being an apartment renter without a private patio or backyard means maximizing the small space I have.  So instead of taking up more floor space on laundry day to air dry my delicates on a fold-out stand, I picked up a wall mounted clothesline at BB&B for the unused space above my bathtub.  When it isn’t in use, you would never know it was there.  The silver plate that hides the retractable line is pretty inconspicuous, and the anchor latch even more so.  So convenient and easy!!

Well after last week’s craziness, and as I face another chaotic week ahead, it feels so good to know that I can find more peace and harmony in my home. I can’t wait to share that peace and harmony with my mom, sister and brother-in-law this week.  Until we speak again, bon ami, continue living la belle vie – the only life to worth living!!

♥ LBH

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If there is one important lesson I have learned in life, it is that family and friends are your biggest and most valuable treasures.  As precious as life is, you should appreciate them, for better or for worse, with their virtues and faults.  Today I was reminded of this again after I found out my mother was admitted to the hospital.  She assured me she was feeling much better and that she would be released by Saturday.

So today’s blog post is dedicated to my mother, who I love so very much and to whom I owe more than I even know.

Thank you all for your kind words, thoughts and prayers.  Be sure to tell your family and friends how much you love them this weekend.

♥ LBH

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{ running around like crazy!! }

I’ve been a bit busy with my 2012 Project Harmony work, and before I knew it some days had passed without updating the blog!!  Apologies for that… but I’ve made great progress recently!

After revamping my desk area, I started tackling my closets, which is no small feat.  But until I find a few last things to finish the closets, I’ve tabled them for now…  Instead, I’ve moved on to a project that I started a while back.  A couple months ago, I found a great article about saving a drab desk chair from becoming a curbside tragedy.  I knew I had to do something with my own horrible black boring desk chair, and so the day after Thanksgiving I found a great fabric, and this past weekend my better half and I performed minor surgery – and voila!  We are sooo happy with the results!!

The desk chair will also now be invited to come out when visitors are over!!

It was definitely a project that required two people, just to make sure the reupholstery fabric was taut.  It was also very helpful to have a handyman to take the chair apart and put it back together afterwards.  Removing the original fabric was very tedious – there were lots of staples holding it on, so removing them all was impossible.  But be sure to use a canvas or upholstery fabric so that it is strong enough to handle the staples and tight pull.

 After we finished the project, we realized we were bitten by the reupholstery bug – we can’t wait to find our next chair needing a facelift!!

Well I still have a couple weeks left in the 2012 PH, and I will have a couple more updates in the next couple of days to share with you.

How are your 2012 home improvement projects progressing?  I would love to hear about your projects – help me keep up my motivation for these last two weeks!! 

Until the next progress report – continue living la belle vie, my lovelies!

♥ LBH

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In the blink of an eye, another week has passed faster than most of us can keep up.  But it has been a great week for me, and I’m ready for a great weekend to boot.

A little (okay, a LOT) of self-realization and lists this week:

1.  as much as I love a big fast paced city, I always yearn for some country…

2.  just like Plush Palate, I also think the best way to bring life and vim to any space is through plants and flowers!

3.  I could always decorate my walls with some wonderful mementos as opposed to pictures – new weekend project for me!!

4.  I MUST make this chocolate lavender pie STAT…

5.  my bedroom needs a major facelift, like this one – another weekend project on the list!!

6.  speaking of bedroom, I MUST find a new sitting/reading chair for the corner.

7.  where can I find some beadboard wallpaper?

8.  I need to get back into a regular yoga routine.

9.  thanks in part to my better half and my dear friend at The Scarborough Faire, I really do love the French.

10.  I can be a pain in the ass – for putting up with me, my better half deserves lots of my thanks and love.  I would be lost without him and his love.

This weekend will be a busy one: a surprise dinner for my better half because he deserves it ~ I’m continuing my 2012 Project Harmony ~ enjoying a “Thanksgiving in January” dinner party ~ hosting a small dinner party where I’ll be cooking my very first rib roast… Every day that I open the freezer and see it sitting their patiently, I start salivating like my dog!!!!

What great plans do you have for the weekend??  Be sure to do something positive for your community on Monday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  After all, we have much for which to thank him, and still much work to be done.

Have a wonderful weekend, bon ami!!

♥ LBH

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