8 years ago I found myself making a career transition to Los Angeles from Seattle. I was not exactly happy about it, but believed the job would be a good experience and, when done, I could always move back.
Suffice it to say I am still here, no longer with the job and a lot more content than when I arrived.
But it took some time to get this way.
Ultimately I decided to start this blog for a couple of reasons. Arriving in LA was a shock to the system. I mean I knew it would be having visited several times, but it was much more than I ever could have anticipated. The traffic alone, coming from an island and growing up on the Prairies in Canada, was a lot to overcome. Even more than that was the instant overload of self-expression; it caught me off-guard. Not being a SoCal native, I didn't know where to find the good stuff - the nooks and crannies, the boutiques and hidden brands. Once I embraced the search for said good stuff, and had more time to have fun with it, I began to like living in Southern California. I got more familiar with the neighborhoods, more comfortable with my surroundings and felt more at home.
And then something else happened. People started to stop and ask me where to find certain things I was wearing - which was really fun and flattering because I knew exactly how they felt - on the quest to find their fashion groove with not enough time to get it done. After having this happen a lot, a blog is born. I'll start simple with my go-to favorites on everything from apparel, shoes, jewelry and skin care and take it from there. Along the way you might find a gluten-free recipe or two mixed in because I got diagnosed with gluten-intolerance 3 years ago after suffering misdiagnosed for over 5 years. And honey let me tell you, there's nothing worse than a world without homemade chocolate chip cookies.
As an aside, this blog is also a bit of a memoir to my niece Kaela. You might see her on here from time to time. She is super special to me and, at the tender age of four, already showing all the tell-tale signs of a fashion girl at heart. We live thousands of miles apart and Skype keeps us together. In the event her love for shoes holds fast, I want her to see in twenty years that everything re-emerges...and there's a reason for all the crates in my attic with her name on them.
I hope you'll come along for the ride...and that you'll share your favorite finds too.
-Carrie