California Girls Trip- Rodeo Drive and Venice Beach

[RODEO DRIVE OUTFIT] DRESS: VALENCIA AND VINE *BACK IN STOCK* | SHOES: CASTANER | BAG: PAMELA MUNSON | EARRINGS: HUNTER BLAKE (C/O) | SUNGLASSES: CELINE (SIMILAR) | BRACELETS: ROXANNE ASSOULIN, EX VOTO, STICK AND BALL | WATCH: MICHELE (C/O)

[BEACH OUTFIT] TOP: OLD (SIMILAR) | JEANS: MADEWELL | SHOES: JOIE | EARRINGS: HUNTER BLAKE (C/O) | BRACELETS: ROXANNE ASSOULIN, EX VOTO, STICK AND BALL | WATCH: MICHELE (C/O)

Happy day! What a whirlwind the past week, month, and even spring has been! Between weddings, travels, family happenings, and an upcoming move 😉, the days have flown by.

I am so thrilled to finally be sitting down to edit hundreds of pictures from my trip to LA with two of the sweetest girls in early May. Mary Frances (pictured above) has been like a little sister to me for years (follow her on Insta (@mbtomadison) and all year long I had been trying to get her to sneak away from college for a bit to come on a blog trip with me. With so much going on throughout her freshman year, we never could connect on dates. So I finally told her to pick a destination and we could take a trip as soon as she got out of school for summer. And that we did :) And I am so so happy her sweet bestie Anne Catharine got to come along too!

There’s truly nobody else I would have rather taken this trip exploring the coast of California than these two amazing girls. We had the very best time eating, shopping, and exploring Los Angeles and Santa Barbara. Looking back at these pictures makes me smile so big and has me wishing we could do it alllll over again!

The pictures/ outfits above are from our first day in Los Angeles. We landed at LAX around noon and quickly changed before heading over to lunch at The Ivy. It was SO delicious and the most beautiful colorful setting- the best way to kick off our trip. I ordered spaghetti, and it was incredible. I’m craving it now!

After lunch, we walked over to Rodeo Drive to do loooots of window shopping, popping in and out of stores looking at the gorgeous designer items. A few of my favorites were Chanel, Celine, and Tory Burch. The Tory Burch store on Rodeo Drive has the cuuuutest rooftop showcasing all their newest Tory Sport items. I could move into their store in a heartbeat.

As the sun started to go down, we made our way over to Venice Beach to walk down the beach and see the sunset. We had originally planned to stay in an AIRBNB in this area, but after seeing multiple street fights and some sketchy things in the neighborhood (the most alarming was seeing a man ripping a lady’s backpack of her back as she was riding her bike and slinging her to the ground), we decided to check into a hotel. Have any of you stayed in this area or seen something similar? We definitely should have done more research before booking our AIRBNB- and a reminder to you to be sure to get familiar with the safety of a neighborhood when renting through AIRBNB/ VRBO/ etc.

Needless to say, our trip got off to a fun but then very interesting start. We learned to quickly roll with the punches and be a little more spontaneous. Sometimes the best plan is no plan! Stay tuned as I will be sharing more from the rest of our trip in the coming days.

Last thing! I have linked all my outfit details below. Something special I wanted to point out is that the pink dress I wore shopping on Rodeo Drive just came BACK IN STOCK. It is one of the best finds under $150 and a great dress to dress up or down for summer vacations.

SHOP

OUTFIT ONE

OUTFIT TWO