Yesterday I was wearing short sleeves and sunglasses, today I’m in a snood up to my ears and my thickest socks. We’re definitely not in LA anymore. Travis and I got home late last night from a mixed work/play trip to Los Angeles. What a way to kick off 2014! I wanted to share a little bit of our play before I share the “work” part later. Before teaching classes on Saturday, we got in Thursday afternoon and had a little bit of time to piddle around LA.

We spent the afternoon on Thursday strolling around Venice, primarily Abbot Kinney. I fell in love a little. What a charming area. Lunch was a Gjelina – a recommended spot that lived up to its promise! Gotta kick off a mini vacay with some rose’, am I right?

The rest of the afternoon we strolled in and out of shops, including the totally cool Ilan Dei Studio where I wanted to buy every succulent they offered. Of course, a paper gal’s got to visit Urbanic, the paper boutique of all paper boutiques.

Other notable favorite shops included Firefly and The Modern Dog where we bought the pups some treats and struck up a nice little conversation with the owners.

Once we got to our hotel, we ordered up some cocktails to the room. Approximately 9 minutes later I was asleep. That’s what a 3 hour night’s sleep will do to you before travel, I guess!

Day 2 we worked in the hotel for a quite a bit, but trekked out around lunch to Olvera Street, which was really fun. And by golly, we had some really great Mexican food. These Texans approved.

Los Angeles Magazine told us that the taquitos at Cielito Lindo were a must-have (above). So we hurried over to try them. Ok, they were, like, really delicious.

Last stop before dinner at The Gorbals, Poketo. A shop full of treasures.

Couldn’t stay out too late on Day 2, Day 3 was a big one for me. More to come!