Look Ma, I'm a real estate expert!

East Side Bride,

Love your blog, hate wedding planning, hate moving to LA.

I currently live in Chicago, my fiance lives in LA (Koreatown). I'm not that into living there, so we are looking for a place that is close to downtown but not K-town. A short commute is key. Will I hate Monterey Hills?

I feel like I should just move to Los Feliz but being a mid-western girl, I want some trees. Chicago is so easy, every neighborhood has a stereotype, why aren't other cities like this?

Thoughts?

-- Lost in LA

*****

gimme a stereotype. what are you aiming for??

*****

Hip young professionals and hip young families. People who spend more money on their art than their cars.

*****

Sounds like Silver Lake to me. If you can afford it, you will love it.

And don't worry... there are trees!



(Monterey Hills is NOT hip. And I think you'd feel isolated that far out.)

*****

Maybe I should give you a little more to work with. I snack on kale chips, organic beef jerky and carry around a water bottle. We are both corporate professionals but we have some esoteric interests. So a creative, hip, yuppie community. Being able to go for runs in the neighborhood is a key for me.

*****

Like I said, Silver Lake.

Image via YEAH! rentals (anyone know who the photographer is?)

Take Sunset

You may or may not have noticed that I have a new sponsor.

Take Sunset is a site focused on "real estate, architecture and things to do in los angeles," and the proprietors have excellent taste.

For example. Did you know that Claire Vivier and jewelry designer Kathryn Bentley just opened a teensy, gorgeous new store in Silver Lake?

Or that Heath Ceramics makes house numbers?

Me neither.

I also had no idea how many bungalows there are for sale on the east side. I just hopped over to the Take Sunset blog to pull a few images for you guys, and I spent two hours shopping.

Quick question: Is it legal to style an east-side garage with a surf board? Should I be embarrassed that I kind of fall for it?

Photos 1 + 4 from Rob Kallick's listings at 1330 North Coronado and 1310 Mohawk Street in Silver Lake/Echo Park.

the earrings are the hardest

Why don't you wear 1. Dara Ettinger gold crystal earrings from Belljar? (via Kylea Borges via Sasha Darling) or 2. tiny gold flake studs from Mohawk General Store (via I'm Revolting, who took the photo).

one more day of Unique LA!

I've been looking forward to Unique LA for months, and today I wasn't disappointed. Exhibit A: Baby Porcupine print by Sharon Montrose.

Seriously awesome. Visit her etsy shop to see the Baby Raccoon, the Otter, the Reindeer.... All of em. We didn't buy anything from Sharon, but I already regret not picking up a few sets of Hoofstock bookmarks to give as wee xmas presents. (And speaking of awesome: check out The Dog Photo Booth.)

Next up, the Perpetual Gardening Calendar from Krank Press.


We bought two. (Last year we gave Odd Birds of LA calendars as xmas presents and they were massive hits.) The proprietors of Krank could not be more laid-back, Silver Lake-y, and, well, uncranky. Even with a mass of people clumped at their booth.

But my very favorite...



Tie-died suede clutches and distressed leather flat zipped pouches by Tracey Tanner.

I already knew I loved Tracey Tanner's distressed leather. We ordered a bunch of zipped pouches from her in custom sizes and colors to give the ladies as wedding thank-you gifts (as well as wallets for the guys). But holy shit with the tie-dyed suede. H-town picked out a christmas present for me in secret at Tracey's booth. Wheeeeeeeeee!

Note: Tracey is a complete doll, and she gave us a discount for the bulk order back when we were wedding planning. She has also offered esb readers 25% off everything on her site until December 24. Use the code FBFALL09 at checkout.

Southern California Wedding Chic (complete with ostrich)

I could not be more stoked to feature the wedding of the lovely and hilarious Celia, of life according to celia. Here's what she had to say:

First off, I'd like to give a big fat thank you to ESB for getting what the whole wedding planning process is really about and, of course, for featuring our wedding. I thought we were kind of cool before, but now my head is swelling at a phenomenal rate... jokes.

OK, where to start? After 10 months of planning, some serious nail biting, a good amount of tears, and a few fits of rage, we got married in front of 113 of our nearest and dearest on October 10th at the Figueroa Mountain Farmhouse in Los Olivos. We rented the house for two nights and invited our families and close friends to spend that time with us. To say it was the best time of my life, would be the absolute grossest understatement. I guess there really are no words to describe how incredibly perfect that weekend was.

The day of the wedding was the most beautiful day I had seen in months. Living in Southern California can be pretty grueling during the Summer, so a 77º day is always more than welcome. I know tons of little details go so wrong at so many weddings, but I must admit that ours ran pretty smoothly. The ceremony started at 4:30 and we were married by a very close friend of ours... an idea I highly recommend if you are planning on having a nondenominational wedding. He made us laugh, then cry, and laugh again. It was so sweet and so personal. My mom walked me down the aisle and I remember feeling like I was a little kid again.

The ceremony was very short (maybe 15 minutes) and we proceeded to have a huge blowout party. I was not interested in a lot of the traditions, i.e. throwing the bouquet/tossing the garter/etc., mainly because I didn't want to feel like I was on a schedule at my wedding, and also because I really didn't feel the need to have Joseph's hands or face up my dress in front of our families. Maybe that's just me, though.


We both work in the food industry, so the food was a really big deal to us. We didn't want anything fancy, so we felt family style would be our best option. The menu consisted of Roasted Fennel and Orange Salad, White Mushroom Lasagna, and Paella from The Chef's Touch in Solvang and I don't think we could have been happier with how it all turned out. Joseph works as a Sommelier and decided to buy all different bottles of wine from Silver Lake Wine, so that no two were alike. Everyone was excited to see what bottles would be at their table. We also served three signature cocktails; a spicy whiskey one, a sweet tequila one, and a rusty nail for my dad. There was a mariachi and we gave out Mexican tin ornaments for favors as a nod to my heritage. We used terrariums as centerpieces because Joe's highly allergic to quite a variety of flowers.

Dinner turned into a big dance fest and we were so delighted to hear everyone tell us that they were having the best time. I had never in my life felt so happy or full of love. It was almost surreal. The night came to an end, although I wished it could have lasted forever, and I could not believe how blessed we were to have such a beautiful and heartfelt wedding. Totally worth all those fits of rage...



Tune in tomorrow for Celia's advice on how to get a badass wedding dress without ever having to leave the house.

And, yes, that is a ban.do headpiece. Celia visited the studio to try em on. She's fancy like that.

(Photos by Cathryn Farnsworth)