These kicks were made for walking...

If you're anything like me, you've kind of gotten used to stores with a huge multi-brand selection and terrible service. That works for most things - espcially when you already know what you want - because you just pick the store with the lowest prices.

But, like buying a car, or deciding on a television, I finally realized that I need more information when it comes to getting new athletic shoes. And I don't mean for, like, walking around at work, I mean shoes that will be used for actual sport and fitness. I've been taking long walks in the morning before work and noticed that my shins were starting to smart. Then for the first time in five years, I jogged on Friday. My back and hips hurt by that evening. It was time for some new gear.

After 2 years of listening to my boyfriend gush about his NBs - which he wears all day everyday - I did it right and went over to the New Balance store in Santa Monica. The girl helping me was no older than 25 (at the most) but she knew more about shoes than any Best Buy employee anywhere knows about anything. I know that isn't really saying much, but she was really super. She asked me lots of questions - what would I be using them for: walking, running, weight training, etc., how often, and what problems I was currently having. She measured my foot, which hadn't been done FOREVER. Apparently, I'm a 7.5-8, not an 8-8.5, like I always thought. Then she brought out 4 possible pairs that were all suitable. Over the course of an hour, we slowly whittled it down. Along the way, she took in my feedback, and told me the body mechanics of why some shoes felt better or worse. She also showed me a new (and super cool) way to lace my shoes which keeps my heel in place without cutting off the circulation. It sounds dumb, but it was the icing on the cake. And now, for the first time since I was 10, I have a pair of running/walking/training shoes that feel absolutely 100% perfect.

*Editor's note: Until the age of 10, my mom took us to Keane's Children's Shoes, where they would always measure us, help us put our shoes on, feel our toes in the shoes, have us walk around, and remeasure us. They also had a talking parrot. When you're a kid, you will go anywhere if you get to see a talking parrot.

So, do your body a favor, get some kicks that fit your feet. Join team NB!
And below, my fresh new sneaks:

Van Nuys is full of surprises.

Most of the time, these are the words that pop into my mind when someone mentions Van Nuys: car lots, warehouses, stoneyards (I chose the marble for my kitchen there) and porn.

The San Fernando Valley is known for being the porn-production capital of the world but I'm pretty sure Van Nuys is the king of the capital. Anyway, a lot of Van Nuys is extremely industrial and commercial and not someplace you go to hang out. So, it's shocking for me to write that the best 2 hours of my year (this includes all of 2006 and 2007 so far) happened today on a cul-de-sac in the middle of a miscellaneous warehouse business park deep in the heart of Van Nuys.

A very generous stranger (now, friend) invited me to visit the set of my all time favorite television show today. In the VN. The wonderful, gorgeous, celebrity-studded, movie-magical VN.

So go into the valley, kids, and explore Van Nuys. You never know what you might find.


Thanks Dave!

Food glorious food!

Love love love the Doughboys.
I have never had a bad meal there. I think it may be the most reliable delicious food in Los Angeles. They have the most amazing salads and sandwiches (including homemade bread, of course), not to mention delicious breakfast options if you're an early riser. My 2 guiltiest pleasures: the soup and salad combo with French Onion Soup (a meal in itself!) and the salad with the olive tapenade OR the amazing After School Special, which is a ginormous bowl of creamy tomato soup and the cheesiest grilled cheese ever. The latter is a heart clogger, but damn worth it. Actually, the onion soup is probably a heart attack too, but I like to the think that the salad balances it out.
Sometimes there's a wait and they don't take reservations, but it is soo worth it. Check it out for dinner during the week or an off time for brunch on the weekends (like before 10 or after 2) if you don't want to wait more than 15 minutes. It's on 3rd, just west of Crescent Heights. Sitting outside is a great place to watch foot traffic! And don't forget to check out their homemade deserts in the case inside or take home one of their delicious fresh breads.
I Heart Doughboys!

Fred Smegal

The precious? Not at Fred Segal.

Look, if you have thousands of extra dollars a week and can't think of a charity or anyone in your family to give it to, go ahead and drop it at Fred Segal. Pay for overpriced clothes and jeans, most of which will be on the pages of In Style and US Weekly tomorrow and then show up at normal-priced stores the following week. But if you're just making a decent living working 50 to 60 to 80 hours a week, like yours truly, save your pennies.
If you want to go over to Fred Segal for kicks, to get some new style ideas, or for some old fashioned celebrity gawking, I highly support you. But please, unless it's their semiannual sale, do not pull out the plastic. It's really not worth it. 70% of the merchandise will be "out" in 6 months - so why spend 90% of your paycheck on the cute but short-lived fads. I know the math is getting a little complex there, but just take my word for it. Just say no to Fred. Please.

Always a bridesmaid...

Last weekend, I had the honor of hosting a bridal shower here in LA. Since the bride's 2 sisters are in the midwest, I got to choose the location. We needed something pretty affordable, but I couldn't fit 20 women in my living room and the bride isn't a girly girl tea party kind of bride. Luckily the theme helped me find the perfect place - it was a Spanish theme b/c the bride lived in Spain for a few months and has loved everything about the country ever since. Which, to me, instantly means...TAPAS!!!


My boyfriend and I have definitely sampled our share of tapas places in LA, but by far, our favorite spot is less than a block away from my house. (which makes for easy walks home when you're drunk on 1 of their 3 delicious flavors of sangria). The Courtyard is this fantastic little spot right on Santa Monica Blvd. If you're not on foot, you might not notice it. But the food there is absolutely amazing.

We always love going for dinner but it's a pretty nice (read: pricey) meal so I was worried about the cost of doing a shower for 20 people there. But Tom at the Courtyard was amazing to work with! I gave him our budget ($20 per person) and he absolutely made it work. There were tons of delicous tapas and plenty of sangria to go around. Plus they didn't make a fuss when I asked the day before to move the party indoors b/c of a sudden turn in the normally sunny LA skies. Everyone LOVED the whole experience there and all told me that they couldn't wait to go back for dinner on their own. The favorite dishes of the day were the Bacon-wrapped Dates. I ended up going back the following Wednesday and had another amazing meal - without eating any of the same dishes we had for the shower. My favorite tapa for dinner: Steak a lo pobre - delicious sliced steak over homemade potato chips drizzled with blue cheese sauce.

So go to the Courtyard, eat, drink and be merry! (and go on a warm night so you can sit in the gorgeous outdoor courtyard - you'll feel like you're thousands of miles from La la land.) Yum!

Oh Kitson, you disappoint me.

Long long ago (about 6 years to be precise) I discovered an adorable boutique on Robertson. It was filled with baubles that made perfect gifts and awesome items for my wish list. On any given table, prices ranged from $10 to $500, and I never failed to find something I wanted. The staff were friendly and even remembered my un-famous, but friendly face the first two years that I shopped there. They were the first place I found Me & Ro jewelry - to this day one of my favorite lines. It's name was Kitson and it was great.

But sadly, this is not the Kitson of today. Sure it seems like it must be the BEST STORE ON EARTH - according to People and In Style's photos, a celebrity buys something there every 5 minutes. But do not be misled.
First of all, there's the rope.
A velvet rope so I can stand in line in order to shop and give them money.
No.
Then there's the merchandise.
Gone are the days of hidden gems in every corner of the store. Now you can choose from piles of "TEAM ______" (insert catfighting celebrity name here) or stacks of $300 jeans to be paired with cashmere sweaters adorned with tinkerbell and mickey. There is still some jewelry and gifty items but they lack the luster they used to have. How many mud flap girl necklaces does anyone really need? But mostly, the inside of the store just looks like a tornado ran through it. It's not quite as bad as when Urban Outfitters has a sale, but it's close. And it's not pleasant.

So I say, no thank you, Kitson. You had my love but you threw it away for some famous faces. I'll be going elsewhere for my fabulous gifts for my fantastic friends.

I'd say let's stay friends but we both know that won't happen. When we pass each other on Robertson, I'll make eye contact, you'll give me the nod, and I'll continue on my merry way over to Nanette Lepore and the Newsroom. And don't worry, I'll try to avoid stepping on any of the swarms of paparazzi that hungrily wait for scraps by the front door.

Great skin and a bad hair day

With this blog, I promise to always balance a positive with a negative, a hate with a love and a love-to-hate with a hate-to-love.

There are just so many places in L.A. to spend money - hundreds of hair salons, restaurants, day spas, boutiques, gyms, coffeshops - and I think my opinion counts at least as much as all those fake citysearch reviews. So here we are. I just want to help you have a better time out here in LA LA Land.

So I'll begin with the bad, follow up with the good, and avoid the ugly...at least for this post.

I went to the worst hair salon ever 2 weekends ago. My current stylist is on vacation, and I desperately needed color on my constantly multiplying gray hairs. What's a girl to do? Apparently, some online research. I have incredibly (and unmanageably) curly hair. I found a salon in Beverly Hills that's supposed to be the end-all-be-all to naturally curly hair. How could I pass it up? I hadn't changed hair salons in 8 years and for some reason, thought the start of 2007 could also be the start of new hair stylings. Before I go on, just NEVER EVER GO TO BATIA & ALEEZA SALON. If you want to buy their hair gel online, fine. Maybe even their conditioner. But NEVER GO TO THE SALON. Now, I admit, I was 4 minutes late for my appointment. I was mad at myself about that - I hate being late anywhere - but that can't possibly justify the treatment I received. I changed into my smock in a coat closet. No one made eye contact when I emerged, until I lingered too close to the front desk and was ushered to an empty station. As I surveyed the room, I noticed a woman waving at me from behind in the mirror. I followed her wave to a chair in the back. The only question I was asked was "do you want to go darker?" To which I replied "I'd like kind of a chocolate brown" (close to my natural color). Before I knew it my head was covered in colormuck and the colorist had pitched me 3 different salon products to buy at the end of my appointment. After she walked away, no one spoke to me for the 30 minutes I sat waiting for the color to set. When the timer bell finally dinged, nothing happened. No one paid a lick of attention. Finally the woman who was attending to the client next to me said she's let my person know that the bell went off. Minutes go by. Finally, I'm washed. I'm seated in a chair, dripping wet, at an empty station. I sit there for at least 15 minutes. At minute 10, I'm offered some water. I'm moved to Batia's station (the owner, who is supposed to cut my hair). She is nowhere near her station. She spends the next 15 mintues speaking in Hebrew to her sister and some other friend by the front desk. Me? Still sitting with wet hair and no magazine to occupy me. Finally someone else tells her maybe she should start working on me. I am asked one question before the cutting begins: "do you want to keep it long?" "Yes". That's it, the scissors fly for the next 5 minutes. During which, more products were pushed, and I was told I look like some Hollywood exec's daughter (which I'm not and don't). As she tells me to "love my curl, embrace my curl" she pulls out the curling iron!?! Apparently my natural curl isn't good enough because she's fixing it with a freaking curling iron. The cut wasn't bad, but the experience was terrible.

The bargain price for these 2 hours of anti-social, un-pampered, product pushing? $250
Oh, that's right - two hundred and fifty freaking dollars. And that's without any products. I have never been so rudely treated to pay someone so much money.

And now the good. The very very good.

Like Kiehl's. Oh, my dear Kiehl's. Mondy, I went to the new one at the Grove. Amid the insane stroller-and-star-studded throngs, this tiny storefront is a refuge. Then again, I've never had a bad experience at a Kiehl's. Too-trendy Robertson, posh-Montana, they've all been good to me. The staff are incredibly knowledgeable and friendly without being pushy. Everything smells natural and wonderful. And their products, while hard on the wallet, are absolutely wonderful for the body. Plus, for some reason, the customers in Kiehl's are magically genuine and friendly. Everytime I go to any store, I get into some kind of conversation with both the people that work there and other customers. And they're not LA-fakefriendly...it's an actual, normal conversation. It's like everyone walks in the doors and lets their guard down. It's just a great atmosphere. I don't know how they do it. Oh and did I mention the samples? The best part is that when you buy something, you can ask for samples of pretty much anything, and they will drop a few in your bag, pre-packaged and perfectly trial sized. On this trip, I got a little bottle of corinader body lotion. So delicous smelling and body smoothing. Perfect for these harsh winter skin-drying days. Anyway, despite the damage to my Mastercard (only $90, unlike Batia's nauseating bill), it was the favorite part of my Monday off from work.

Hopefully future posts will be shorter. Anyone want to volunteer as my editor?


YAY Kiehl's. BOO Batia and Aleeza.