Rodeo Drive....my Kind of Black Friday!

This crew had no intention of getting out in the crowds on Black Friday this year.  However, my brother took a noon flight out of LAX on the standby list, and we decided to hang around downtown to make sure he got a seat otherwise he'd be stranded until the next flight at 9pm.  What to do???

We had no issues finding things to do.....we started out with a little Black Friday shopping on Rodeo Drive!

Heading to Tiffany's :)

The stores were still being decorated, and I loved these Santa's being placed on one store's balconies.

It is hard to tell from these pictures, but the decorations for all of Rodeo Drive were provided by Swarovski!  There were crystals hanging down the trunks of the palm tress, on the street signs, and strung between these sculptures in the median.  Gorgeous.

Clearly, this crowd is not price sensitive, and these stores feel no need to discount anything.  So, there were absolutely no crowds....

.....with the exception of the PETA protestors!!  Protesting fur, leather, and any type of animal products this crowd very slowly made their way up and down Rodeo Drive chanting "Blood, blood, blood on your head," escorted by police.  Made for quite a sight and very awkward moments considering even the children walking around were decked out in fur vests, and leather boots!

After much excitement, we decided to go to a throw-back, elementary school, cafeteria-style place for lunch that I've been interested in trying for a while now.  Lemonade LA did not disappoint with organic and eco friendly salad and soup options....and of course several options of lemonade!  Between us, we tried the blueberry mint, watermelon rosemary, and cucumber mint lemonades -- all amazing!

Once we got the all clear from my brother, we took the scenic route home through Beverly Hills to Sunset Blvd. to gawk at the big homes, and a few celebrity houses.  Good day all in all!

Obsession??

Some of the granite went into the kitchen today, which meant we could finally unpack parts of our kitchen and load it into the base cabinets!  My favorite part of this project was organizing the bar...which unveiled some very inconvenient truths.  Truths that I could handle, like that we have way more stemware than I want to wash, and that we have quite a lot of bottles of wine.

Yet, I am a little embarrassed to share this next thing I realized, but I am secretly proud of it at the same time!  How does that work out?  Okay, enough stalling, here it is:

Yes, your eyes are not deceiving you!  This is practically the only stash of cocktail napkins one will need for the remainder of their life, and possibly even some leftover for children to inherit!  I am estimating over 700 napkins, in over 20 different designs.  Now that I think about it, I have at least 2 more packages I purchased last month that I need to add to my brand spankin' new napkin drawer!  I feel like I am constantly pulling from this when we have people over, but apparently not as often as I thought.  Or else, I purchase faster than we can use!!

Besides my cocktail napkin obsession, how about my organization obsession?  I will save that for another post!

Progress in Pictures...

Thought I would share a little of what has kept us crazy busy over the last few weeks:

Staining mirrors!  

Cabinet install and flooring removal

Tub and fixture install

Marble counters installed and mirrors complete 

Brand new shower complete!!

New floors in kitchen and den!
Grout sealing was our exciting Saturday activity! 

Granite install (as we speak...or type and read??)

Back to fumes, drywall dust, furniture strewn all over, and this house we have grown to love :o)