Hotels I've Loved: The Garland, Los Angeles

I was back in LA this month to speak at a conference and meet with a few clients. Since most of my work was downtown, I opted to rent an AirBnB in that neighborhood for most of the trip. But for the last day, I switched over to a cute hotel in North Hollywood called The Garland.

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A Weekend in Michigan (The Fresh Coast Retreat)

There is a lot about blogger life that is totally delicious. Setting your own hours and schedule. Working from home (especially on those nasty weather days!). Tasting and trying and traveling and creating. It's a whole lot of magic, and I am so thankful that I am able to make my living this way.

(With the exception of a couple instagram photos, all images in this post are by Alejandro Photography. )

That said, working in a little solo bubble can sometimes get frustrating. I find myself craving colleagues to bounce ideas off of, learn from, or even just to vent with on the days when things don't go quite right. We have Facebook groups and often chat via social media, but nothing beats in-person interaction.

Fortunately last month, I had a chance to get away and experience a few exhilarating days surrounded by some of the most talented and inspiring bloggers, photographers, and entrepreneurs I ever met.

And I'd love to share a bit about it with you! Scroll down to see and learn more about my experience:

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Hotels I've Loved: The Charlie Hotel in West Hollywood, Los Angeles

Work has been bringing me to Los Angeles more and more lately, and I've been using each trip as an opportunity to explore different neighborhoods and hotels.

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Travel Diaries: Surfing with the ladies in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua

CHICABRAVA, an all-women's surf retreat in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, definitely sounded intriguing. Billed as an empowering program for women, it promised personalized in-depth surfing lessons, along with yoga and other physical activities in the company of cool women from around the country.

It sounded amazing, but also somewhat intimidating. I loved the idea, but was it right for me?

What do you think of when you think of surf camp? In my head it was all super fit, tan, lithe, and blonde surfer chicks.

While me? I'm more of a "too much wine and too much cake and sleep in and skip the gym" kind of lady. I'm curvy and soft, and while I have the ability to pose and dance and strut in heels with modicum of grace, attempts at significant physical activity--say hiking or running or any kind of group exercise class--typically result in an embarrassingly uncoordinated calamity.

I mentioned it to my best friend who thoughtfully responded, "Alejandra, I don't think you would be good at that..."

I agreed, but I also couldn't stop thinking about it.

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Hotels I've Loved: The Standard Spa, Miami

If you ask me what my favorite hotel is, I will--without hesitation--tell you The Standard Spa in Miami Beach.

This gorgeous boutique hotel is like a yummy, sexy playground for grown-ups.

Included in the room rate is access to the Turkish-inspired hamam--a dark heated chamber filled with hot stone slabs that you can stretch and nap and roll around over. Once you're warmed up, you can move onto the bevy of indoor and outdoor hydro features like massaging waterfalls, an icy arctic plunge, hot tubs, big soaking bathtubs with a la carte aromatherapy salts, scrub rooms, cedar saunas, sound showers, and even an outdoor mud patio where you can cover yourself in cleansing mud before baking and detoxing under the hot Miami sun.

There are also massage therapists, daily yoga and fitness classes, stand-up paddle boarding, meditation circles, nutritional consultation, and a number of other traditional spa services.

The rooms themselves are sparse but luxurious, with comfy beds draped in crisp shades of cream and white, sheer curtains, and hidden TV sets. Perfect for sleeping in late.

Some of the rooms feature private patios with outdoor soaking tubs that you can sink into with a glass of wine while enjoying cool breezes blowing from the bay.

And when I say it's an adult playground, I really mean it. There are no kids under age 17 allowed, but the hotel does allow (and even encourage!) adorable doggies. You are also encouraged to spend your entire stay wandering around in your bathing suit or one of the fluffy hotel robes (and I usually do).

And while Miami Beach can often get a bit rowdy, The Standard is located about a mile away from the craziness on Belle Isle. It's a quick cab ride or easy walk or bike ride (the Standard lets you check out bikes) to the hub of activity, but far enough away that serenity and calm can be easily had.

Seriously the best of both worlds!

I'm also a big fan of the hotel restaurant, The Lido, which serves up a solid menu of healthy, tasty dishes just perfect for enjoying between hours by the pool (open 24 hours!) or in the spa.

Think gorgeous kale chopped salads topped with grilled chicken, grilled octopus, skirt steak, raw lasagna, or crispy fish tacos. So so perfect.

There is also a cute juice bar that's perfect for breakfast in the morning, and a bar that serves up boozy cocktails and fresh coconut water late into the night.

My only complaint about The Standard is that depending on the season, the rate can sometimes swing wildly towards the too expensive level. But if you catch it at the right time, I promise you that it is so worth it.


Travel Tips

• Want to enjoy the spa benefits without staying? You can actually buy day passes that allow you access to the pool and the spa regardless of where you're staying (great for locals, too!) Or keep an eye out for one of their regular events and classes, which usually include spa access in the rate.  
• If you're flexible or feeling spontaneous, download the One Night Standard app, which offers amazing same-day rates for last-minute bookings at all Standard hotels starting at just $99 a night.

Photo Credits: Images 1 via Afar, 2-4 via The Standard

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Loved this post? Here are three other travel articles you might like:

• Travel Diaries: Obidos, Portugal
• Honeymooning in Vieques, Puerto Rico
• My Airplane Travel Essentials

And let's connect so you can find out the next time I post! Follow me on Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest, become a fan on Facebook, or sign up to receive my once-a-week e-mail updates.

Thanks so much for reading

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Travel Diaries: New Orleans, Part 2

Let's start with breakfast. It should come as no surprise that eating new and delicious things is my favorite part of travel. But out of all the things, it's really breakfast that I love the most.

Going out for dinner or lunch is a fairly common occurrence--especially here in New York City.

But there is something incredibly luxurious about sitting down to a relaxed breakfast in a new city while on vacation.

You're well-rested from a night in a delicious hotel bed. The hunger is real and fresh. And you know that after the meal, a full day of adventure stretches ahead.

(Bonus points if it's a weekday and all the regular people are at work.)

And New Orleans? Oh, New Orleans knows how to do breakfast very, very well.

My favorite meal in New Orleans that weekend came from Stanley, a lovely casual spot located in the heart of the French Quarter on Jackson Square. Eugene found it online the previous night, and because the reviews were amazing and we both thought the name was funny, we decided to give it a shot.

(The restaurant is named after Stanley in the Tennessee Williams play, A Streetcar Named Desire; there is also a more upscale sister restaurant named Stella.)

I admit we were a bit skeptical of its touristy location. Jackson Square is a bustle of activity, even early in the morning, and we had to push through a crowd of people tossing coins at a giant mechanical man just to get to the front door.

Fortunately, there was no need to worry.

Inside, Stanley is lovely and cool with high ceilings, tall windows, and white marble tables and counters.
And the menu?

Oh, baby!

I started with that gorgeous Brandy Milk Punch pictured above, and then chose the Omelet Sandwich, which I swear is the best thing I ate all weekend.

Toasted, buttery multi-grain bread filled with eggs, melted American cheese, crispy bacon, ham, caramelized sweet onions, and a spicy Cajun mayo.

It was breakfast sandwich perfection, and I can't even express to you how badly I'm craving another.

Eugene ordered a spectacular dish called the Breaux Bridge Benedict: thick French baguette slices topped with local pork boudin patties, poached eggs, cheese, smoked ham, and hollandaise.

(Please note the ham garnish. Take that, parsley!)

We also ordered a side of the most beautiful Corned Beef Hash I've ever seen, served over delightfully spicy Creole Breakfast Potatoes.

After breakfast, Eugene and I spent some time wandering around Jackson Square and the rest of the Quarter.

We poked into vintage shops and a charming and possibly haunted bookstore called Crescent City Books, where I bought 7 books--something I slightly regretted as I lugged my billion pound carry-on through the airport the next day.

I also wanted to buy this little guy, but this particular store was closed...

I also dragged Eugene into every single praline and candy shop I saw to take advantage of the copious free samples.

Oh, man, do I love pralines!

This confection is called Mississippi Mud from a store called Laura's Candies, which billed itself as "New Orleans' Oldest Candy Store."

It's a layered chocolate bark made with caramel, chocolate, and pecans, and it took all I had to stop myself from buying a 2lb box of it to bring home.

Speaking of sugar...

We, of course, had to stop at Cafe du Monde so that Eugene could have his first taste of beignets.

Eugene wanted to share an order, but I put a swift stop to that, and we each got our own order of three, burning hot and piled high with powdery sugar. We also each got a cup of that famous chicory coffee.

We walked the donuts off by wandering through the French Market. The flea market part wasn't very thrilling (it was very similar to the ones in NY except with more masks and beads), but the food part was magnificent.

Had we not already eaten, I probably would have tried a dozen different things. 

We kept wandering and eventually found ourselves on Frenchmen Street, which is a great place to go at night for live music (and much more relaxed than crazy ol' Bourbon).

 I loved these signs at one of the clubs on Frenchmen. Get your soul right! (This, by the way, is Domenic. Thanks, YouTube!)

I wanted to go the New Orleans Pharmacy Museum as I'm fascinated by old time-y pharmacies (tinctures! linaments!), but it was closed. 

These blue dogs, by contemporary artist George Rodrigue, can be spotted all over the city. We saw them used in ads, on building murals, and on paintings in just about every restaurant we went to. We finally looked it up to learn more.

The sign on the left was on a window across from our hotel, The International House.

"Here's to the creative ones," is the hotel's motto, and they had large photographs and mixed media paintings of John Lennon, Steve Jobs, and Audrey Hepburn and others decorating their walls. They also host regular events honoring talented creatives. (Check out their Pinterest page).

Eugene wanted to see the "Mighty Mississippi," so the absolute last thing we did before leaving was walk over to the water to watch the riverboats go by.

I can't wait to get back to this city.

xoxo

Alejandra


Disclaimer: Eugene and I were invited to visit New Orleans as guests of The New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation #FollowYourNOLA campaign. Our travel, lodgings, and most of our meals were paid for, but all opinions and experiences are, of course, my own.




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Love Always Order Dessert? Let's connect! Follow me on Twitter or Pinterest, become a fan on Facebook, or sign up to receive my once-a-week e-mail updates. And if you ever need any entertaining or cooking advice, please don't hesitate to e-mail me. Thanks for reading! 

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Travel Diaries: New Orleans, Part 1

New Orleans is so many amazing things at once.

Old and new. Elegant and bawdy. Urban and tropical. Loud, and yet also beautifully and peacefully silent.

There is sadness, but also so much humor.

And there is a heat that flows through, swirling around and pulling you along, encouraging you to taste and experience as much as you can. It's lusty. It's indulgent.

It's all of the things that I love.

I was lucky enough to spend a few days in this magical city last month.

It was only a weekend, but we made a point of exploring and eating and soaking in as much as we possibly could, and now I want to share a few of those moments with you.

The streets of the city were sprinkled with red that first day. It was the morning of the Red Dress Run, a yearly charity run that brings out the young and old, male and female, in bright red dresses and sneakers.

We saw them everywhere--waiting in line for breakfast. Browsing through shops. And as we got closer and closer to the Quarter, the red filled out more and more until we were completely surrounded.

Eugene wanted to skip Bourbon Street to avoid the commotion, but I pulled him in for one block. I wanted to feel how it felt to get swept along in that sea of red enthusiasm, smiles, and music.

I felt a little bit envious of the others, and wished that I could change into a red dress and join right in.

The heat that weekend was heavy, breaking into thick tropical rainstorms that kept sending us running for cover.

Though we'd come prepared with a loose itinerary, we quickly decided to just let the weather guide our plans, walking along while the sun shined, and ducking into bars and shops when the fat droplets started to fall.

It was the perfect way to experience the city.

One of the first places we fell into was named Kingfish.

Named after former Louisiana Governor Huey P. Long (nicknamed "The Kingfish"), it's an elegant cocktail bar and restaurant with a cool, classic feel to it.

We took seats at the bar and ordered drinks from a pretty red-haired bartender who chatted easily with us.

A refreshing Pimm's Cup for me. A classic Sazerac for Eugene.

We actually only intended to stay for one drink, but the place was so lovely and the conversation was so nice, that we each ordered a second and then decided to get lunch, too.

New Orleans is a perfect place for lingering...

When the rain stopped, we pulled ourselves away from our cozy spot and headed back out for another round of exploration along those gorgeous streets.

So many colors...

 Old time-y streetcars and palm trees make me incredibly happy.

So do masks and feathers.

When the rain started again, we ran into a little dive bar called Molly's Irish Pub where we sipped good, strong drinks and watched people escaping from the rain.

I loved these three and took their picture.

And then this guy saw me and jumped in to have his picture taken, too!

The one thing Eugene wanted was "a lot of oysters," so we made our way to Felix's, which is across from the slightly more famous Acme, and ordered oysters all of the ways: charbroiled, raw, and a po'boy.

Hot, smokey, and buttery oysters. They're the kind of delicious you eat with eyes closed, not caring about anything but the taste.

The raw oysters were huge and meaty, and not too briny. We topped them off with lemon juice and extra-spicy cocktail sauce that we mixed up ourselves right on the table.

Eugene was a happy dude.

For dinner our first night, we headed to ROOT, a bright, airy, and fairly new restaurant on Julia Street that, like so much of New Orleans, serves dishes that combine the old and the modern.

The dishes seemed to alternate between dainty, like this soup, and outright decadent, like my Cohiba-Smoked Scallops with Chorizo Dust that arrived inside of a wooden cigar box.

That dish was like kissing a man, I swear.

We also ordered this, which I think was called something along the lines of: "All of the sausage in the world + pickles."

Recommended for sharing, Eugene and I demolished most of it as an appetizer, and then laughed when a huge party of 8 next to us ordered the same thing.

"Amateurs!" we giggled under our breaths.

After dinner, we slowly wandered back to our hotel, already discussing what to do about breakfast the next day.

Click Here to read Part II of my New Orleans Travel Diary, where I share the most delicious thing I ate all weekend.


Disclaimer: Eugene and I were invited to visit New Orleans as guests of The New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation #FollowYourNOLA campaign. Our travel, lodgings, and most of our meals were paid for, but all opinions and experiences are, of course, my own.

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Love Always Order Dessert? Let's connect! Follow me on Twitter or Pinterest, become a fan on Facebook, or sign up to receive my once-a-week e-mail updates. And if you ever need any entertaining or cooking advice, please don't hesitate to e-mail me. Thanks for reading! 

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