LA Baby

This past weekend was the annual Wilcox women Los Angeles trip. Everyone always asks us why LA? What a random place to go on a trip. Well Big Pat is from Whittier (right outside of LA) and he has always loved going back to his home state of Cali so we've taken a couple of family trips around the area: San Diego, La Jolla, Newport, Santa Monica, and of course LA. Oddly enough we've never gone to Whittier. We had such a good time eating (emphasis on the food) and shopping in LA that we decided to make it a yearly girls trip. Sorry dad. We've talked about switching it up and possibly alternating years between NYC and LA but it hasn't happened yet. Next time we go, we are planning on going for a few more days than the usual and driving down to Santa Barbara & possibly San Luis Obispo where my dad's brother Thomas lives...Big Pat will prob come along for that one.

I look forward to the LA trip ALL year. It is such a great time to spend with my mom and sissy now that we all live in different cities and are all so busy with our lives. Daniella is living in Austin (so jelly) and is attending a post-bac program at St. Edwards; I am obvi in Dallas, married, and in law school; and my mom...well Big Martha and Big Pat are "very busy" traveling the world now that they are empty nesters. JK. But seriously it is on a new level. So needless to say its such a fun time to relax, shop, and eat.

We arrived last Friday and went straight to The Ivy. We LOVE The Ivy. It is the cutest restaraunt on Robertson that used to be an old house. The decor is shabby chic/secret gardenish including your very own vintage silver teapot with fresh flowers as a centerpiece at each table. adorable. It is so lovely to sit on the patio of the restaraunt and sip on their delicious homemade mint tea while people watching (LA is the best place to people watch...we like to play the how much plastic surgery do you think she/he has had game). So one of my favorite foods is lobster and the menu at The Ivy has lobster all over the place. yum. My mom and I shared a lobster cobb salad...its was scrum. But the absolute BEST thing about The Ivy is the red velvet cake. I have had a lot of red velvet in my day and I can honestly say that the best red velvet cake is from The Ivy with the red velvet cupcakes from Sprinkles coming in second. Another wonderful touch that makes The Ivy unique is their pottery. It is so cute and the coffee mugs are huge. Lucas and I drink a lot of coffee so I obvi needed some. The pottery is made in Peru especially for The Ivy and is only sold at Indigo Seas (a store next door). So while we waited for our table I hopped over and purchased some mugs, plates, and a sugar bowl. So excited about it!

After The Ivy we checked in at our hotel and hit Rodeo Drive. First stop: Hermes. We walked in and started browsing around and admiring the beautiful scarves when I spotted Kelly Rutherford aka Lilly from GG. I couldn't believe it. We ran into her last year in New York at Serafinas (eating again) while we were there picking up my wedding gown and doing last minute fittings. But she was with her son and picking up food to go so I felt really bad bothering her. We've actually spotted quite a few celebs but I always get so awked out asking for a picture because I don't want to be THAT person. Big Martha is shameless and always asks. omg so embarassing. (Side note: we actually saw Bethenny Frankel with her husband and baby outside Barneys in LA last year but again she was with her baby and I felt like it would be so not cool to bother them. We also saw Andie Macdowell at Barneys last year. Barneys is hopping and they let you bring your dog in. it rocks). But this time I decided I had to ask her for a picture. What are the odds of running into her almost exactly a year later on the opposite side of the country? It was fate. And this time she wasn't with her baby...she was actually with a much younger man that she was buying a bunch of shiz for. Cougar. So I got my courage up and asked...she was soooo nice. She was worried about looking bad in the picture because she wasn't wearing makeup. Are you kidding? So gorg. Unfortunately I still had plane attire on and looked like a cow had chewed me up and spit me out. ugh just my luck but I am so happy I did it.

That night we had reservations at Villa Blanca. I am a die hard Real Housewives of Beverly Hills fan so we had to go to Lisa Vanderpump's restaurant Villa Blanca. I didn't have high expectations for it because I thought to myself "it is probably just trendy because a reality tv star owns it and it is right off of Rodeo drive" but wow was I pleasantly surprised. It was to die. The atmosphere was so cozy and intimate and the decor was obviously all white, the service was great, and the food was incredible. I was really hoping to see Lisa and her dog Jiggy which didn't happen (tear) but we did see her daughter Pandora having dinner with her friends and her new husband Jason waiting tables...weird. I guess they were trying to bring him into the family business but it was just totally awk to watch his wife sitting down having dinner while he was waiting tables.  Anyways if you are ever in LA it is a total must go.

Saturday we woke up and went to brunch at this cute place on Melrose called Taste. Our waiter was an aspiring actor who waited tables on the side (typical LA story) but he was so nice and is from Dallas. Shout out to the Big D. He started off by offering us bottomless mimosas. Um yes please. Can you think of a better way to start off a day full of shopping? Then he came back to take our order and it was my turn. I asked for the breakfast pannini but made a few changes. just a few. Egg whites instead of regular eggs, wheat bread instead of white, no bacon, and swiss cheese instead of goat cheese (I swear that I am allergic to goat cheese...just like I used to be allergic to Vodka in college but I got over that allergy). I apologized for being difficult and his response was: no problem you fit right in with the LA girls. Um rude. I was kind of offended but by my third mimosa I was over it. We also got the most amazing truffle mac n' cheese. Ok so anybody who knows me knows that macaroni and cheese is my all time favorite food. I regret not serving mini mac n' cheeses as late night at our wedding. Anybody who knows me also knows that my family is addicted to anything with truffles: actual truffles, truffle oil, truffle salt, you name it we love it if it has something to do with truffles. So the mac n' cheese and truffle combo is amazing. I die. If you go to Taste on Melrose get it.

We spent the rest of the day shopping, walking around, people watching and next thing we knew it was time for dinner at STK. We plan our days around our meals if you haven't noticed...so surprised we all arent over 300 pounds. We were really excited about this meal because A. We were eating with THE Jose Rodriguez aka JR. He is the most talented upcoming person in Hollywood and will be famous! B. Because we were supposed to go to STK for dinner last year but our plans got ruined when our rental car got towed while we were inside Christian Louboutin sipping on champagne, looking at the catalog for the next season's collection, and picking out my wedding shoes. It was a huge ordeal and we ended up just ordering room service that night. It wasn't funny then but it is hilarious now. Anyways dinner at STK was incredible thanks to the amazing company and delish food. Jose has so many incredible stories like working with Mel Gibson in Veracruz and becoming friends with his son Christian, working with J. Lo and Marc Anthony on their new show Que Viva!, meeting Rihanna, and his current project as casting director for Bad Girls Club. Baha. Apparently these chics are ridic but we all know that by seeing the commercials on Oxygen. If you ever see him make sure you ask him for his autograph because he is definitely going to make it big.

Already looking forward to next year's trip and all the restaurants we get to try! xoxo

Key players:
The Rodriguez family-We've known them almost my whole life! I feel like Jose and Arturo are the brothers I never had. Arturo is actually the male version of me. Our moms call Artie and I Raggedy Anne and Andy. Jose is one of the funniest, most sincere people I know. And Tia Charo is the nicest woman, and she spoils her dogs Nina and Simba just as much (or more) as I spoil Lilly so I love her even more. Nicest family ever.