I have no clue why I call these episodes. A few people told me they felt mislead with the last post because they thought I was doing video—my bad! But I like the sound of episode even though everything is text, so “episodes” it is :)

ANYWAY, so last Thursday I said PEACE OUT to cold and dreary NYC and said HELLO to fun and sunny Los Angeles. The Makeup Show was in town, but I also loved the chance to have a change of scenery and to hang with old pals. Since it was a bit of a last minute decision, I wanted to see what sort of deals were available for travel so I hit my fave Priceline where I normally do the “name your own price” feature, but decided I was better off checking out the packages since I needed airfare, hotel, and car. I didn’t see anything that fit the price range I was willing to pay (red flag number one) so I hit Expedia. I found something in my projected budget (second red flag) that included everything I needed and after doing a few checks on the hotel, I booked. Since everything was charged to my account in one fee, I didn’t realize the hotel I intended to stay at was a tuberculosis factory.

Thank goodness for my bud Kristen from Glitter N’ Glue who lives in LA and is super cool because on the night before I was set to fly out, she asked me where I was staying, looked it up, and let’s just say she saved me from probably contracting diseases that were cured in the 1800s. Shame on you expedia.com for having hostels disguised as hotels on your website! But thank goodness their customer service rep was able to cancel it out for me with no fees. I then went back to my beloved priceline.com and used their “express deals” option to find a hotel for $59/night in the downtown LA area. Only thing with express deals is they’ll tell you which amenities the hotel will include, its class, and its general location, but they won’t tell you the name of the hotel until after you booked. And if you know downtown LA and how the hit AMC TV show “The Walking Dead” looks like it might have been inspired by some of its areas, you know how risky it was for me to book that deal…lol. But I booked the Ramada Inn on Wilshire in Koreatown which wasn’t the Ritz Carlton, but for a double bed room with free parking and free wifi with no medical supplies left behind from previous inhabitants and a nice location, it worked quite well for me.

I mean, how bad could it be if I was taking selfies in the bathroom? :P

So I packed light considerably when it came to beauty. I only brought a few lip colors with me (MAC Prince Noir along the perimeter and Ruby Woo in the center), Make Up For Ever HD Liquid Foundation and the new Pro Finish foundation, the two MAC Archie’s Girls eyeshadow palettes, Perricone Blue Plasma and other skincare essentials, and of course my CoverGirl Clump Crusher mascara among other things. Clotheswise I just kinda threw things in my suitcase because the weather in LA was in the high 70s/low 80s and I’m afraid I’ve eaten myself out of last year’s summer clothes o_O

So then onto what I did. Well you saw The Makeup Show LA post, but I left it early Saturday afternoon to hit the West Hollywood area with Kristen (who btw hijacked my camera and took a majority of the pics in this post…lol. she takes better pics with my camera than I do!) and headed to the HP Wake Up Your Walls event with HGTV’s Genevieve Gorder who is SUPER awesome in person. I got some inspiration on how to decorate my new apartment using canvas portraits which can be pretty expensive (though worth the investment depending on the photos in my opinion) but HP has this new really cool (and really affordable) service they’ve rolled out to Walmart and Meijer stores nationwide where you can take those awesome photos of yours and turn them into beautiful canvas artwork to do what? WAKE UP YOUR WALLS :)

Stay tuned because I’ll have more info soon on how YOU can win some fab gift cards to start your own Wake Up Your Walls project. If you want inspiration and more info, be sure to check out the #wakeupyourwalls hashtag on Twitter and follow @HPPrint.

So of course I’d start a new eating plan when I’m about to travel, and I was doing good for a while, but then I pretty much cheated at Bottega Louie (such great pizza, pasta, and OMG the macaroons), Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles (so there was this sign out front that said CBS LA voted Roscoe’s mac n’ cheese the best in LA to which I was all “phish, yeah right“) but lawd, it was gooood), Wokcano, 208 Rodeo (super cute waiter and grilled cheese with brie and carmelized onions—yummm). And please don’t get me started on the Cap’n Crunch ice cream at Sprinkles. Yeah, back on the diet grind tomorrow.

Then because LA is all about hair (or to me it is), I hit Drybar in West Hollywood for a fab blowout. Grezia did a great job coiffing me into some Gabrielle Union-inspired loose curls. Drybar has locations across the US and for just $35 (a little more in some cities) you can get a fab blowout with a wash included. When I walked in I was greeted and asked if I wanted a beverage (I got hazelnut coffee) and then Grezia introduced herself, asked me what look I wanted (they have a cute menu and a lookbook you can go through), and then she took me back for my wash. Since I have extensions AND no relaxer, it look a little longer than the average 35 mins for a Drybar blowout but no worries because she did a fab job. And she used all of my favorite Moroccanoil products.

Cute, right?

Remember how I said I wanted a faux fur Royal Tenenbaum approved coat? TOTALLY found one accidentally in American Vintage at 7575 Melrose. Kristen popped in to find something and I was kind of dragging my feet because I was starving, but then I saw a whole section of faux fur and came across this $60 beauty. (SO funny, that “Thrift Shop” song was playing while we were in there, too…lol)

Then after I played Terry Richardson for a photoshoot with Kristen, we headed over to the JustFab office in El Segundo. Um, if you thought the office looked fab on TV, you should have seen it in person! We got to see a glimpse of the magic that goes into the really cool shoes, handbags, jeans, and accessories that make it on the super affordable site every month. And OMG let me tell you their office is FAAAAB! We got to meet members of their marketing team, social media, buyers, and saw Kimora‘s office in the flesh (um, I need Johnny from the “House of Fab” show to come and makeover my entire life—he did a fab job with her office space). What’s also cool about the office is that there’s also space where they do all their photo shoots and commercials on the same floor. SO fab. Have you seen their March offerings? I have “Marne” and “Carilo” on their way to me now as we speak. Plus I’ve been told some reaaaaally fab shoes are coming for spring/summer. Can’t wait to see :)

And for the rest of this post, I’ll let the pictures do the talking…lol.

And now back to cold, MTA fare-hiked NYC where I will be hyberinating until the first consecutive 2 weeks of 70 degree weather.

What are your favorite LA haunts? Tell me in the comments :)