Crazy.Surreal.LA.

Continuing on my current theme of 'goodness me, I had a pretty crazy-surreal experience in LA' - let me say that I found the walking (or not walking, in this case) habits of LA dwellers to be especially crazy-surreal. Driving around the streets in our automobile it was an extremely rare occurrence to see a single human being walking along, except in a mad dash to get into their car - as if the open air would cause immediate spontaneous combustion. I really am one for the outdoors & love walking here & there, so I really think I would struggle living in such a place (however much 'crazy-surreal' is usually my vibe). I have lived in the same area of London all my life & am good chums with lots of the neighbouring families. We bump into each other walking down the street, taking the dogs to the park, in the vegetable (chocolate) isle in tescos..I don't know how I would survive without these friendship afirming chance encounters, because nothing says 'life-long friends' like '"can you help me reach the kitkat chunky's?" right?

And the moral of the story is: How do the LA crowd get their chocolate??

As well as not seeing two-legged creatures roaming the streets, I also didn't see their four-legged friends wandering either, however I was very glad to find a massive shop dedicated to catering to the every desire of our fluffy counterparts.

Lamb, potato & peas - gluten-free dog food? I should think so.

I have a very jolly little dog called Daisy (in fact when I say she's 'very jolly' she's not THAT jolly in her old age..) who has always been at the receiving end of my fun in playing 'dress-up'. I started to enjoy this activity with barbies, then teddies, then my brother at one point & then of course myself at another, preparing Daisy as the perfect candidate. Jumpers, tshirts, raincoats, glasses, hats & the like..I was unbelievably excited to find DOG SOCKS in the LA pet shop! Winnie the pooh themed, no less. They were the perfect compliment to the pink bobble hat & 'One Hot Mess' tshirt I also paid good dollar for.

 Another crazy-surreal LA discovery was this CUPCAKE ATM machine. Quite like taking out money, you 'take-out' a cupcake. Love it.

In a final blog pop back to Palm Springs, I've got to show you some snaps from our last party - Soho House pop-up in an incredible private house in the desert..
Filled with the who's who of the festival-chic world, amazing food, flowing drinks, oh and a lake with a swan boat floating around.
Everyone has a swan boat in their back garden, right?

On a final note about the movment habits of the LA crowd, I am going to take them back out of the doghouse and tell you that they do ROLLER BLADE which give it 100 brownie points from me!

Kimberley & I cruised down to Santa Monica beach to rent skates and have a jolly jaunt up & down the sea front...in tiny little shorts (as this Daily Mail article pointed out...!!!)

Having a bit too much fun..

So Forest Gump right now...run Forest RUN! 

OR AT LEAST WALK.

Road.Trippin.

American road trips – livin’ the dream?

I have recently been learning to drive which I very much enjoy (although in truth I think it’s more the 2 hours spent in close quarters with my rather hunky driving instructor who’s leg I occasionally brush when changing gear – but that’s another story – than the actually act of driving) I have yet to pass my test & so when I chat about our LA road tripping I must say that I didn’t spend a moment at the wheel & it was Kimberley who had to deal with all that driving-on-the-wrong-side-of-the-road crazy business, while I had the luxury of gazing out of the window at all the oh-so-American-dream-world which is in all the Hollywood chick flicks & such.

Cruising along with the radio blasting tunes & the sun blasting rays, there were some pretty chilled vibes in our little automobile & I was immensely enjoying the surrounding scenes. So the first weekend we drove from LA to Palm Springs which was such an insane experience – desert, sand, palm trees and wind turbines as far as the eye could see. They danced in the air to the music we played like rhythmic & obedient soldiers. It was spectacular.

LA playlist: Team by Lorde Pompeii by Bastille Happy by Pharell Counting Stars by One Republic Burn by Ellie Goulding Dark Horse by Katy Perry Cooler than me by Mike Posner NaNa by Trey Songz Brave by Sara Bareilles and most importantly LET ME TAKE A SELFIE by Chain Smokers. Bloody brilliant.

AND THEN THERE WAS A SANDSTORM! After a day pool party in Palm Springs we hopped in the car as the sun was setting & drove through the strongest wind ever. Wound down the windows & felt the air on our hands - it was like sandpaper! A good bit of exfoliation. The experience was too amazing not to experience to the full so we pulled over & danced around in the wind.

We met a group of 'all-American-gals' who instantly became our 'best-friends' in the all-American-way & we cruised back to their motel to chill before an evening party. In an all-Bella-way, I snuck off as the others talked about all-American-things for a swim as the moon took it's spot in the sky.

 

LOVIN' THE ALL AMERICAN DREAM

Bella.LA.land.

Now this post may slightly confuse those of you who are used to hearing my tales of drawing naked people, taking things out of bins & generally being rather unconventional, but it simply must be written about and this is why – I went to LA – and although there was certainly much flesh on display in the city with no seasons other than summer, I didn’t once get a pen out. I did get a camera out, however, so that's good news.

True to form, I jumped headfirst into accepting the kind invitation of my friend to accompany her on a stateside adventure when she used the word ‘Coachella’, filling my mind with - festival festival festival YES PLEASE. Kimberley warned me that Coachella isn’t your typical knee-deep-in-mud-greasy-hair-I-can’t-remember-last-night type of vibes – it’s more a ‘place to be seen..’ and thus it transpired that we didn’t in fact see any live music, but rather boogied, bounced & flounced around at some of the most glamorous-festival-chic affairs one can imagine.

The first festival party was sponsored by Old Navy - there was a pool, inflatable balls and hotdogs.

It was - I'm sure you'll all agree - the unbeatable trio.

Hotdogs with hashtags? I guess it must be a 'thing'

Kimberley is a swimwear designer & has a beautiful range of bikini's & swimming costumes. I absolutely love her cut-out one pieces & with the sun in full glow we had the chance to model these at Coachella. Above I am wearing the Kimberley London 'Fiji' costume. Rather saucy! The denim shorts are Old Navy & are one of the many free Old Navy clothing items I was lucky enough to take away with me..A denim jacket, wrap-around, bag, towel, hat, denim jeans, shirt...

For all the freebies I simply had to Instagram a picture of me #oldnavyoasis - oh modern day, sometimes the virtual world take over isn't so bad...

#OLDNAVYOASIS

 

 

 

Party number two was held by Lacoste & was really rather stunning (and I'm not only referring to the other party guests...see above)

This was another pool party with pretty ideal crocodile inflatables, coconuts with straws, ice-cream biscuit 'sandwiches' & crocodile themed mini-golf.

Love a good inconspicuous photographer...

 MY COMPLIMENTARY LACOSTE HAT. SO FLUORESCENT RIGHT NOW. IDEAL.