Category: Travel

San Diego Stylin’ – sadly comes to an end.

To wrap up our San Diego experience, we decided to grab some lunch at Bondi, an interesting and artful Austrailian restaurant. We were intrigued, as you don’t often hear about “Australian cuisine.” We discovered that it’s not all that different from our American palates, it’s just simply prepared food that’s done extremely well.


Of course, the fact that it boasted a contemporary setting wasn’t bad either. They have these super cool bamboo Pods” that you can enjoy drinks and appetizers in. We were all over it.



After our drink, we decided to move to a table so we could better enjoy what was coming from the kitchen. Check out the presentation! This is Carrie’s grilled chicken breast with prosciutto-wrapped asparagus.

We decided there could’ve been no better way to wrap up such a stylish trip!


San Diego Stylin’, part two

Besides checking out cool modern boutique hotels, we also really enjoy scoping out fantastic restaurants. We knew San Diego wouldn’t disappoint. Tonight, we visited The Red Pearl Kitchen for some delicious asian fusion. From the dim sum to the shrimp-bacon-garlic fried rice – we left the establishment properly satisfied and super-styled.



After dinner, we needed to check out The Confidential, where we had the most delicious martinis ever – and that’s saying a lot coming from the two of us. The place was very easy on the eyes, and surprisingly, very friendly.



Now we’re back at The Keating …


So much to do tonight!

San Diego Stylin’

To celebrate Ed’s big 35th birthday, we have headed down to San Diego for the weekend. We had an ulterior motive – we’ve long awaited a reason to stay at the Keating Hotel, located downtown in the Gaslamp, and finally, we have arrived! This place is fantastic – it’s designed by the famous italian design house, Pininfarina (who is best known for their Ferrari designs, but has now expanded on to even more exciting things, like architectural and industrial design). It is absolutely amazing, true italian modern at it’s best. And, with a connection to car design, and a color scheme that’s all red & white (Carrie’s fave colors), it couldn’t be better suited for the two of us!


This is what the lobby looks like!

We got an even better surprise when we arrived this afternoon – we were told at check-in that we were given a free upgrade X2, to the “Stanza Chic” – a junior suite! What could possibly be better! This is what our suite looks like:

This room is amazing. We have our own espresso machine, Bang & Olufsen electronics and a shower the size of our bathroom at home! Here are a few more photos we stole from the web, we’ll post our own later.


These are our his & her sinks in the room – this is some serious italian design! We LOVE it!


Our shower! Check out the size of that shower head on the ceiling!

We’re still a little awe-struck, so check back later for more pics and details of our trip …

Old School Vegas!

We were lucky enough to head out to Las Vegas this weekend with Eric & Shirley. Thanks to Carrie’s parents, the four of us had a 3-Day/2-night stay in Vegas and tickets to the Terry Fator show (our big surprise Christmas present this year! ). Needless to say, we had a blast!





The two of us hadn’t been to Las Vegas since 2001, and neither of us had ever spent any time Downtown. It was super fun – really old school and kitschy, just the way we like it! We loved all the old signage and neon…it seemed more like the Rat Pack Vegas than all of the new monstrosities out on the strip. And Downtown, you can play $4 roulette! (We’re high-rollers!)

We also got a kick out of visiting the Liberace Museum. He’s the King of Bling!

All in all, it was a blast – thanks Mom & Dad for a great trip!!!

See all of our pictures:

Vegas Weekend


And how do you finish off a Palm Springs weekend?


At The Parker, of course! So this day was Carrie’s actual birthday, and we’d been wanting to visit for a long time. The Parker was once owned by Gene Autry, and was reopened a couple years back under the creative and stylistic guidance of Jonathan Adler, one of our favorite designers. It had been redone in a very groovy late sixties/early seventies style – not so much Modernist, but a bit of regency, and a huge helping of whimsical grooviness. It got some publicity as of late thanks to being the subject of the TV show Welcome to the Parker on Bravo.



We met up with Lewis and Mary, along with Mick and Andy and Mick’s parents for an amazing brunch. Alfresco dining with incredible (but down to earth) food, and the incredible surroundings that were both “shagadelic” and dreamy all at once.


Afterwards, we walked about the grounds, and came across Samir, the manager who is one of the stars of the TV show!! He was more than happy to indulge us with a photo. Samir’s the tall, imposing man in the back.

We can’t describe just how amazing the place looks. It reminded Ed of his childhood in many ways, with very familiar early 70s materials, furnishings, textures, and colors. We have to stay here soon! Here are some more pics:


The amazing fireplace lounge…


Some competitive Ed vs. Mary ping pong…


Colored vases…



Mister Parker’s, the onsite restaurant. It’s so swingin’ London.


How do you like that bar!



The happy couple!

Pics don’t do the place justice. It’s mindblowing and just plain fun all at once.

So that’s it – that was our Palm Springs weekend #3, and a fine way to celebrate Carrie’s birthday and Valentine’s Day! I’m pretty certain you’ll see another set of blogs about this time next year….if we’re lucky, maybe we’ll be staying at the Parker!