Bluemont Fair

Today I went to the Bluemont Fair in Virgina to celebrate my mother's birthday. There are a variety of vendors ranging from antique furniture, hand crafted soap, and hand-made jewelery. Ofcourse Andrey had to try the "fried oreos" which I have to admit were pretty amazing. It taste 200X better than a non-fried oreo. When ever I come across a food vendor or restaurant I kind of get enthralled with the ambiance or the quality of the food. This ofcourse happened to me at a vendor by the name of "Mountain Momma Organics" owned by Keith and Kim Finger. The vegetarian couple owns a 100 acre farm in MacFarlan, WV but originally are from the Pennsylvania area! Pennsylvania is a pretty health conscious state so I'm not so surprised that this couple who have only been in the organic food industry less than a year were from there. Mountain Momma Organics are famous for their soups ranging from bean soups, lentil soups, split-pea and each with a different flavoring including curry!!! The couple buys majority of their organic products from California other than their fresh produce which they farm on their land. Keith also let us sample Kim's chocolate "guiness" cacao spread, in which I believe is sold online. I ended up buying the curried lentil soup, organic peanut butter, almond butter, and a orgainc granola bar. If you're constantly looking for whole good foods to feed yourself and family this is a great find that I recommend to everyone. All of their soups can be ordered online as well! I hope this company takes off in a big way and I support their mission to feed people more whole and natural foods. www.mountainmommaorganics.com for more information!

When in Rome

We flew from CDG to FCO outside of Rome, our flight came in late when Ofcourse all buses and trains were closed (11:30pm or 23:30).  All taxis are 50 euros to take you to your hotel , considering buses are 4 euros this is high high high ! Thankfully there are separate companies which drive a minivan that will take you to your hotel for less than 40euros depending on your bargaining skills! For two people Kristen negotiated 35 euro straight to the hotel! Not too bad, but it's better to try and arrive during the day! 

We stayed at baltic hotel about 10 blocks away from the main station in rome called Termini. Near our hotel was the government district with many men in Italian military attire and with their guns, needless to say it was safe! If your planning a trip to rome skip baltic hotel if you can find something at a better price! 

The food in Rome is amazing, and the prices in comparison to Paris are much lower! You can get a great bottle of wine for 13euros, not the best quality but still very very good. We found a wonderful family restaurant near piazza de spagna called "le Segrete".This area houses all of the luxury boutiques (ferragamo, Gucci, Dior, Cartier) but behind this is a hidden gem. The restaurant is so small it only seats 15 people tops! The restaurant is closed very often since everything is made daily! Kristen and I shared a lasagna , being that we weren't very hungry! Wow wow wow wow it was out of this world! We also drank a house red wine that matched well.  Two other people ordered the lasagna , than a third man tried but couldn't since they were out!! That's how we knew they were really making these limited dishes in the back! The entire meal was 20 euros!  

This is just at an average place in Rome! The food was good there too

You can't go to Rome without going to "la Romana" it's the best gelato you will ever have. Everything is made inside in a glass area which you can see. The creamery itself is very clean and chic, with the interior design of greens, whites, and wood. The employees are all beautiful women , very kind ! They all you to test the gelatto unlike berthillion in Paris. Three flavors in one cup is 2.5euros,great place. La Romana is at the end of a big street in Rome called "XX Septtembre" it's stays open late and is constantly busy! You can't go wring with any flavor ! 

They also serves other deserts if gelato isn't your thing ! 

Ootd

As many of you know I work at Nordstrom, so dressing up is a part of the job description. I know it's easy to loose inspiration if your working in a more corporate environment where you can't use you're creativity for outfits. I wanted to share some of the outfits I put together for everyone to turn to when they can't find an outfit in the morning. Throwing a statement blazer over something simple can make an entire outfit. I also threw in Jeffery Campbell pumps, that have a bow on them. This outfit would be great with a basic nude pump too! Blouse:thrift #jacket:Mcginn pants: Calvin Klein pumps:Jeffery Campbell 

Zengo (Restaurant)

First of all today January 6th is a big day! It's my best friends birthday Layal Kodsi I highly recommend you figure a way to say happy birthday to her before reading any further! Last night Hassan (Layals fiance) organized a surprise birthday party for Layal at a restaurant called Zengo, the same restaurant he took her to on their first date! Zengo is located next to the verizon center in the District of Columbia the complete address is 781 7th street chinatown NW DC. Andrey and I arrived at the restaurant around 7:15pm when walking in we were greeted by a host, behind her was white drappings. I later found out the downstairs portion of the restaurant(lounge) was being renovated. We proceeded up a flight of stairs into a bohemian/modern restaurant greeted immediately by the second host. Once seated I took the feel of the restaurant in the design was sexy but luxurious, it made you feel at ease but at the same time you knew you needed to be dressed in nice attire to really be in a common flow with the restaurant. While waiting for Layal the server came who was amazing through out the entire night! He was for sure an on point server hitting each nail on the head! He served us edame almost without even asking. The edame weren't only boiled but grilled which I hadn't tried before. The edame was seasoned well, and I thought oh yea it's not just the interior design but the food is going to be good! Their drink list was huge, they had specialty drinks that were hard to choose from, wine, sake, and beer. I ordered the BIRU drink it was based with vanilla infused vodka and raspberry it turned out to be delicious!
If you read my blogs you know I'm huge on bathrooms, if the bathrooms are dirty, not designed well, or just plain boring I'm already displeased with the restaurant. It's like when you're dating a guy or girl and they seem perfect until you walk into their bathroom and in front of you are all of their dirty belongings laying around! That's the same feeling I get when I walk into a ugly bathroom. The bathroom was on the far left in the back when entering I graced through a set of beads!!!!! I almost wanted to turn around and do it again it was that much fun! hahaha The beads were in around the 2000's we had tons of them around the house from my sister hanging them on her door, I eventually fell into the trend around 12 years old if you had beads hanging from your door then you deff. were with the trend. These beads were a little different but just as exciting
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The bathroom itself was bohemian modern, the trash can was made out of bamboo and half my size, the two sinks were bowl shaped un-attached the bamboo glass behind the sinks were translucent so the figures of the men on the opposing side were visible.
Layals sister soon arrived and I finally was able to meet the beautiful little Rima. She had to be the most gorgeous baby I've seen my entire life. Her lamb outfit and a little flower headband were to die for, I was able to get a picture of her and her auntie that I have to share! By this time she was a model and pictures were being taken from all directions! >The restaurant is a asian-latin cuisine based primarily on a tapas style dinner. They have a range of dishes from sushi to chicken tandoori. Hassan ordered the entire menu, maybe he missed two things! Cold scallops served with chips, dumplings stuffed with shrimp, shrimp tortillas, an array of sushi, thai chicken empanadas, thai shrimp lettuce wraps, peking duck, braised beef brisket, and a meat that you cooked on a hot stone yourself! The server brought out a stone, women will recognize the stone since it's the same one they use for pedicures or back massages. The temperature of this particular stone was 20X more, after he brought out the stone he brought slices of thin meat and two sauces.


None of the dishes disappointed me, each one unique and delicious! I highly recomennd you hurry over there because they change the menu! If you're in NY or LA you can also experience this great restaurant! I take it upon myself to take pictures but if you're interested in checking it out yourself this is the website. http://www.richardsandoval.com/zengodc/index.php
After the feast the cake came out, that was just as gorgeous as the restaurant. It the epitome of Layal divalicious a black bow around the bottom of a chanel cake with little Louis Vuittion, Gucci, Fendi bags sitting on top


The rest of the night I will leave to your imagination! This restaurant was a definite must!

Furrr & Burrrr (Fashion)

Who said you couldn't wear a animal print with fur?! So when getting dressed I though this is a little bit extreme zebra colored dress with fur boots, but when on I was like no it's cute :) Ladies don't ever hold yourself back from dressing out of the norm, doing something funky with your clothing can serve as a form of self expression. The dress was bought in Puerto Rico from a Argentinian women at a boutique in Condado. The boutique is directly across from the Mariott Hotel. It's one of the chicest boutiques I saw in PR. The clothing was not only up to date but trendy. Some of the items people haven't started to wear here in the states on a day to day basis. The sizes run a little smaller in Puerto Rico, not at all like the European sizes but I'm wearing a Medium in this picture, but a small at express is big on me, so it varies. The dress had the high shoulders impressioning the shoulder pad look as well as a popped collar, if you're a follower of RiRi then you know where this look came from! The shoes are from Aldo, I had the hardest time finding cute black boots this year! This was the first time wearing the boots. Aldo has three different countries that they produce their shoes, China, Brazil, and Italy these ones in specific were probably made in China. Surprisingly the fur around the calf actually were warm! I fell in love with this feature because I'm freezing all the time :)

Republic (Restaurant)

Good Morning! The date is officially January 4th, 2012 WOW PAY DAY! also, it was Kiril's birthday yesterday shout out to the birthday boy we're going to do it up this weekend :) Restaurant.com has great deals Andrey bought about 5 coupons worth $25 but it only cost him $4 to purchase them. One of the coupons he bought was for Republic. Republic is on broad street near the VCU campus, I never wandered to the Republic because it always looked creepy. My mind still hasn't changed months later because as soon as we pulled up I said "This is kind of creepy", but to each is own others may think differently! When we first step into the restaurant we are greeted by the bartender who lets us know half of the restaurant is smoking and the other half is non smoking. The bars on each sides of the restaurant are large enough to seat around 25 people. There are wooden booths/tables on either sides of the restaurant. The restaurant had many televisions about 4 on each side 46'. The Republic would be a good place to watch a sports game or to get Nachos! Their menu was an all American menu, cheesburgers, sandwhiches, nachos, authentically American haha. If you're not watching what you eat I would suggest Nachos, they are huge and can serve as a meal be aware. The people next to us ordered the Nachos and I haven't seen any that looked so good in a long time. Andrey ordered a philly sub, and artichoke dip for appetizer, I ordered the Mediterranean salad. All was good no surprises complaints or amazingness. All in all Republic is a nice spot to grab a bit, talk with friends, smoke, get a drink, and eat food that is expected of any local restaurant/bar.

Lady N'awlins Cajun Cafe

Location: 2329 West Main St. Richmond VA

Lady N'awlins a Louisiana themed restaurant with a variety of Cajun dishes on their menu. The lighting is perfectly dimmed for a semi romantic date, and for a social group. There is happy hour Mon-Fri $4 rails and $6 high tops (vodka tonic, cranberry vodka)We went later in the night around happy hour. The crowd looked like U of R students, but it's a great place to bring a date for good food and a fun young atmosphere. THE FOOD IS AMAZING! Who would think a Cajun restaurant like this would have dishes starting off at $14 going up to $18 but the price was worth it. You could start with alligator bites, oyster fritters, fried okra or fried pickles. We ordered the oysters fritters they were delicious! I limited myself to try one because they were fried and Andrey ate the other three (thank god!) Their main dishes were all authentic Cajun plates, Andrey ordered the Jambalaya which was the BEST jambalya I've ever tried. My brother went to school in Lousiana so I'm familiar with the food and that was the BEST jambalaya. It was a little on the spicy side if you don't like spicy food I wouldn't recommend it! I ordered the seared duck side of grits and tomato&cucumber salad. The duck was seasoned and cooked well. At first I had a problem realizing I was eating a little duck but once over that I was able to enjoy the dish. Their variety of desert was authentic in every way, the desert here you can't find anywhere else! We both got a creme brulee. Again the BEST creme brulee I have tried. The consistency of creme was so good my mouth is almost salivating at the thought of it.The waitress was very nice she didn't come to many times. By the end of the night there were a lot of people coming for the happy hour for us it was fun, but if you want a quite place come during the sunshine hours! If you walk in and you see this picture you know you're in the right place!