A Two-Day Hollywood Vacation

Kyle and I had such a fun weekend in Los Angeles! Where to begin? We packed so much into a one and half-day vacation - a concert at Bar Sinister, sushi in Beverly Hills, the Museum of Death, tons of shopping, and even a strip club!

We took off early Friday morning and arrived at our hotel around 4:30 p.m. I couldn't believe we didn't hit any traffic. I felt really spoiled because normally we choose to stay at a crappy hotel in the central Hollywood area, but instead we stayed at a four-star Hyatt in Beverly Hills (thanks undisclosed hotel deal website)!

Check out this view from our patio!

After getting all dolled up and changing clothes, we headed out to the Beverly Hills shopping and restaurant area for some dinner. I really wanted some fancy sushi.

Wearing: New Rock boots, chiffon tunic tank top, faux leather crop top with shoulder cut-outs, and curly extensions

I had no idea Kyle was taking a picture and apparently I was already drunk before having any alcohol? I just can't figure out why my leg is all crooked like that. Anyways, this photo is an amusing  shot of me stumbling down the hallway looking all uncoordinated, so I included it.

We wound up eating at a place called Yojisan and while the sushi was good quality and fairly priced (so surprising!), dessert really stole the show. I picked out the fanciest dessert on the menu - green tea chocolate lava cake with caramel gelato. It was amazing. Even Kyle liked it!

I mentioned that dinner was affordable, but I apparently can't read street signs, even though I checked before we parked, so we ended up with a $65 ticket. Yuck. So really, dinner was quite an expensive affair after all. :(

My sushi rolls, Kyle's salmon teriyaki (he doesn't eat real sushi), and the green tea chocolate lava cake dessert

The decor in the restaurant was very modern and minimalist. I loved it.

It was a half hour drive to Hollywood Blvd on a Friday night (7 miles but 30 minutes due to traffic) and we had a destination in mind - Jumbo's Clown Room. It's a go-go bar where the chicks are supposed to be alternative. While it was a fun experience and I'm glad we went, I was overall disappointed because the girls weren't really all that alternative. Having a few tattoos does not make you "alternative" these days. That isn't to say the girls weren't talented though. They were quite acrobatic and I can only imagine how in shape they have to be to prance around and do all those upside-down pole tricks.

Saturday afternoon we headed to East L.A. to meet up with our friends Krystel and Jonathan at a little Mexican restaurant called Manuel's Original El Tepeyac Cafe. I had the biggest burrito I've ever seen in my life. Krystel told me that Manuel's has been featured on "Man vs. Food," so that explains it I guess. Needless to say, I couldn't even eat a quarter of it.

Next the four of us headed to a bar with retro arcade games called "82." Parking was a bitch, but it was totally worth it. The bar was located in dual warehouses (one with pinball machines and one with arcade games) with an outdoor patio seating area. They had a DJ playing 80s tunes and the drinks were named after games and gamer terms! The building art was also pretty neat. We left wondering why this hasn't caught on and thinking we should open one in Sacramento or Davis…I mean, who doesn't love booze and video games?

Top right: exterior of the bar; Top left: interior of one warehouse building; Middle right: bar area; Middle left: Krystel, Jonathan, and Kyle playing Doctor Who pinball; Bottom: examples of the games available to play

Drink menu at 82

Saturday evening after some shopping on Melrose Avenue (more on that in a separate post), we headed back to Hollywood Blvd to visit the Museum of Death.

Sign at the entrance to the Museum of Death

The museum was very interesting because it was creepy, informative, and of course, very morbid. There were some areas that were hard to look at, such as the hallway full of car crash photos. To me, those pictures were the worst because it's not very likely you'll get murdered by a serial killer, but you have pretty decent chances of dying in a car crash, even if it's not your fault.

The last room in the museum is a tribute to G.G. Allin. This is significant because one of the employees told us that the owner is getting his "body," whatever that means. In case you didn't know, Allin died of a heroin overdose just over 20 years ago, so I imagine there's not much left of his "body" at this point if he wasn't cremated.

After a brief Italian dinner, we got in line at Bar Sinister for the Julien-K show. On our way inside while we were waiting in line at the merch booth, Kyle was accosted by a very drugged and drunk Mikey from Coal Chamber, a band that we both like. He was entertaining to say the least, literally taking his pants all the way off at one point and talking about the glory days of Coal Chamber and how you shouldn't give your money to Amazon. In his words: "Fuck Amazon." Ah, the joys of booze and drugs and being a rock star. Kinda gross in my opinion.

Me and a very intoxicated Mikey. You can see I'm amused but also somewhat frightened by him. He was very grabby with Kyle and I didn't want to be next on his "grab list."

I'm not a huge Julien-K fan, but Kyle really does love them. I appreciate the old school Orgy stuff that Amir and Ryan worked on far more. But those guys sure do know how to put on a show. It was a tribute concert to their first album, "Death to Analog," and I think that they actually sounded better live than they do on the CD. In person, the music has a more rock and roll vibe to it, whereas on the record it's more synthetic and electronic-sounding. My favorite song they played was "Technical Difficulties."

All I've got are some blurry iPhone pics of the show. Videos came out great, but photos….not so much.

I'd never been to Bar Sinister before, so we checked out the actual club proper after the concert, which ended at like 1:00 a.m. I'm such an old grandma - I was so tired I didn't even want to stick around and dance till the club closed at 2:00. A quick walk-through was enough for me. I would very much love to go back and dance on a future occasion though.

Be sure to check out my upcoming post on all the shopping we did on Melrose Avenue.

Until next time!

Outfit of the Day - High-Low Hem, Halter Vest, and Heavenly Couture

Sheer tunic tank top - Heavenly Couture; Halter vest - eBay; Boots - New Rock; Bracelets - gifts

It was super hot again today, and while I was feeling adventurous enough to pull one of my many pairs of Black Milk leggings out of their special drawer, I decided I'd rather wear something more lightweight and breathable, even though the shiny spandex was oh so tempting…so the same old same old shredded pantyhose it was.

I got some new sheer tunic tanks from Heavenly Couture in the mail on Monday. They're going to be perfect not only for every day attire but also as swim suit cover ups for when I'm in Hawaii in August! There was so much sheer in this one order - like five or six chiffon blouses for under $15 each…so stoked. Anyhow, it was my first time ordering from this company and so far I am very pleased with what I received, although I wish the sizing was a bit smaller. As you can see, I'm wearing a small in the tunic tank above and it's just bordering on being too big for me.

I'm also wearing one of my favorite vests. It's tuxedo-style with a very feminine halter cut, so I wore it to help give more shape to the nearly-too-big tunic.

Kyle finally had time to color my hair, so I've got no more visible roots! Now I'm just waiting on some tape-in hair extensions to arrive in the mail so I can have them installed. For now, I'm wearing my blonde and black dread clip-ins. I wear so much black that it's hard to see the black dreads in a photo.

I was in a super good mood today because I splurged and had sushi for lunch, so my shoot was a bit more fun that usual. Having freshly bleached hair is also somewhat responsible.

Next on the agenda is what to pack for this weekend. Kyle and I are driving to Los Angeles to see Julien-K at Bar Sinister. Ugh - I hate (sorta) going to clubs out of town because it means I have to pack five times as much since I'm never sure of what I want to wear on any given day, especially out to a club where it's expected that you're to be dressed to the nines.

Until next time!

Lip Service Cult Web Order

Top left clockwise: Harness cut-out vest, foil chiffon drop-tail blouse in black, mesh crop top, lace moto jacket

It's been a while since I have ordered anything from Lip Service's website. I'm usually pretty cautious about buying online from them since their fits and cuts on garments seem to be all over the place. Sometimes things fit like a glove and other times, they are like burlap sacks. So generally, when I do buy Lip Service (which is not infrequently!), I buy it in person so I can try the garment on.

I made an exception for these sale pieces because honestly, they were just so ridiculously inexpensive. Two of the four pieces shown above were about $10 each!

It's no surprise all the items are black. Even though Lippy does make some really neat colored things, I know I will never wear them, so I stick to the solid blacks and whites.

I got a lot of sheer and light-weight items due to the summer heat. The great thing is I won't have to wait to wear these tops because they are all comfortable to sport in the Sacramento heat.

Stay tuned as I'm sure some of these will be featured in an outfit of the day post soon enough.

Until next time!

Blackheart Lingerie Order

Pictured clockwise from left: Chiffon ram skull tunic tank, Alchemy Gothic ram skull ring, sharkbite hem chiffon tank top, BLACK MAGIC fringe tank, my own shredded tights and New Rock boots, Iron Fist Count Catula shredded tank, and bat skeleton crop camisole.

I have a hell of a time resisting shopping when the word "SALE" is involved, so over Memorial Day weekend when my inbox was flooded with specials at all my favorite stores, it was really tough to pick only a few stores to buy from!

I ended up going with some stuff from BlackHeart Lingerie because it was cute and also because the stuff was seriously so affordable. I got everything pictured in the collage above (and some more basic pieces as well!) for around $75.

Crop tops are still as popular as ever and I do own my fair share, although I've been wearing them far less frequently than I used to. Both the bat cami and the chiffon shark bite hem tank are cropped and I would choose to wear them differently than most of the girls who are currently sporting them. I don't like to show too much bare skin for every day occasions, so instead of wearing high-waisted denim or skirts with a bare midriff, I wear a long tank top dress and layer the crop top over it. I got an XL in the bat cami, simply because I like my crop tops loose-fitting.

I'm much more into high-low hems and long tunic-cut tops in general at the moment, hence the ram and BLACK MAGIC tanks. The Iron Fist cat bat tee was a bit out of character for me. It's cotton, which I tend to steer clear of, just because it fades so quickly in the wash, plus it would normally be a bit too D.I.Y. for me to pay out of pocket for. In general, if I want the slashed/shredded tee look, I just grab my sharp sewing scissors and hack away at a band t-shirt, but I really did like the cat/bat vampire graphic.

Although nearly all of the tops pictured above look great with fitted bottoms (i.e. leggings, skinny jeans, bodycon skirts), I like to keep things simple with some sheer black pantyhose and shredded stockings and garter belt over top. It really does work with everything and hose are thin enough that I don't overheat in my New Rocks during the Sacramento 100+ degree summer.

Overall, BlackHeart has some really cute stuff and I will continue to check back for new items frequently, but a word of advice if you're considering buying anything from them - their sizes run a bit small. I usually get smalls and mediums in Junior's size brands (i.e. Forever 21, Hot Topic, etc.) and so I got mediums to be on the safe side (I prefer something be a bit too baggy than a bit too tight). While everything fit me just fine, I would have ordered a size up had I known things ran a bit small.

Thanks for reading!