Lady B's in Love

 It finally sunk in the other night. The first couple of weeks were a SERIOUS adjustment, but it really and truly hit me this weekend, standing in front of the Kibitz Room at Canter's Deli as a light rain drizzled down on The Hubs and I, making the Hollywood lights glow a welcoming orange in the night sky. Hit me like a ton of happy, fluffy, warm and fuzzy rainbows and unicorns. And maybe a little Jack Daniels.

My new home is RAD.

Seriously, you guys? I wasn't sure if I'd get used to living over the hill. I know it sounds dramatic but this was a GINORMOUS change for Lady B. I left my safe Valley bubble for the frenetic, crazy energy that is Hollywood. And I downsized from a sprawling house to an apartment. I have to admit that the first week left me feeling overwhelmed, exhausted, out of place and scared to come out from under my covers. And then a list of awesomeness started to write itself:

• I have not moved my car in over two weeks, yet I've gone out multiple times every single day. 
• I've lost ten pounds from all the walking, jogging and exploring I've done in my new 'hood.
• The Hubs and I now unwind by sitting in our rooftop jacuzzi, looking out over the entire damn city.
• That's the same rooftop my bestie and I gossiped, ate stupid-delicious Crumbs Bake Shop cupcakes, and were treated to a surprise fireworks show from Dodger Stadium last Friday night.
• We live across the street from the historic El Royale, former home of Clark Gable and other legends. I'm obsessed with its Art Deco architecture and it's green neon sign shines down into our pool in the sexiest film noir kinda way.

•  Speaking of which, I feel the need to speak like a 40's dame living here. "That's the way it's gonna be, see." "Come 'ere, kid, and let Mama make a man outta ya." Know what I mean? Very Mae West.
• Oh yeah. I also look out over the historic Ravenswood Apartments, where Mae West lived for close to 50 years.
• The Farmer's Market is ridiculous and fantastic. There is a GOURMET SALT GUY, people! Fancy salt!!! Y'all know how much I love me some fancy-pants salt! 
• I have a GAS OVEN AND STOVE again! We're cooking with gas, folks! Oh fire, how I missed you.
• The Village Pizzeria is now our second home. A delicious, warm, cheesy home.
• Everything we own really does fit into this apartment! No need for a storage space as we'd feared! Boo to the YAH!
• There's a book store! A real, honest-to-goodness, not-a-giant-chain book store!!!!
• Our neighbors are NEIGHBORLY! Was totally not expecting that.
• The amount of eye candy in Larchmont Village is bananas. Sexy, scruffy dads getting ice cream with the kids your kinda thing? Tight spandex-clad butts walking to yoga? Down to earth, yet painfully gorgeous celebs? Salt-n-pepper Clooney types? Get. Down. Here. Now.

I could go on for days but I don't want hit the world record for exclamation points in a single blog post.You get it though, right?

THIS PLACE IS HOME! AND HOME IS FREAKING AMAZE-BALLS!!!!!!!

Glam or Gaudy?

So, I'm moving. I may have mentioned it. I may have also mentioned that I'm a teensy bit scared of the big change.

But my Hubs is a freaking knight in shining moving armor. Moving armor? That doesn't even make sense. You get the gist, right? Like my adorably handsome bearded husband all made up in an armor suit made of moving and packing supplies? I guess that really wouldn't be decent armor though. You could just tear that to shreds if you were a moving supply dragon or something. Or could you? Cuz then you'd be made of the same stuff as the armor, which we've already established isn't very armor-y. Huh. Anyway.

My Hubs. He's amazing. He knows exactly how to make scary changes magically transform into wonderfully exciting changes with just a few simple words:

"How about we just sell all the living room furniture and start over with brand new stuff?"

What the WHAAAAA?!?!?

Yeah. Knight in moving armor. For reals.

Then he did one even better. He threw me in the car and ignored my whiny complaints about driving sooooo far as we made our to almost-Culver City. "I swear you're gonna like it," he promised. I pouted and whined some more. Cuz I'm awesome like that.

And then we arrived. And ohmyfuckinggodareyoufuckingkiddingme what is this magical place?!!

One hundred fifty THOUSAND square feet of sheer furniture heaven. Heaven, I tell you!!! Sure, most of the items in this interior design mecca are well out of our budget. But they have deals, people! And an outlet space! And just plain inspiration for DAYS!

It's rare when The Hubs gets into shopping of any kind. Ask him to go to the grocery store and it's like you've asked him to drop his pants and cough. But whenever we move he gets oddly excited about new furniture. And then surprises me with some secret magic furniture store juju. Reason #76492 why I adore him. And then dragged him around for 4 hours until we both couldn't look at another damn sofa.

Which brings me to this. We both adore the looks of hotels like The Viceroy and The Riviera in Palm Springs. Yes, we're also kind of obsessed with Palm Springs getaways. Whatevs. So we love the look. Kind of Hollywood Regency meets Mid-Century Modern meets just plain cool. But we don't want to look like we're living in Liberace's place. Okay, The Hubs doesn't anyway. I could totally rock that.

After our trip to what we now can't stop calling "HR Pufnstuf" I came home and ran to the laptop, happily researching budget-friendly options for our new Larchmont Loveshack.

And I discovered Polyvore. Are you on this, yet? Think Pinterest but you can make your own little bulletin inspiration board thingys. And I made THIS:

hollywood regency dream living room by ladyb29 featuring wide rings

Interwebs, I ask you: Is it just the right amount of glam? Or too gaudy? Be honest. I love it. I adore it. I want it. But I don't want to wake up three months from now feeling like old Hollywood threw up on my living room, ya know?

Glam? Gaudy? Just plain awful? Got a better idea? Wanna just go to HD Buttercup with me and drool on everything?

Yay!