New Favorite Hotel: The Cosmopolitan

These are a few of my favorite things: fashion, shopping, art, food and Las Vegas. All of my favorite things seem to converge at The Cosmopolitan on the Las Vegas strip. It had me at the gigantic high heel shoe art displays. And the art book vending machines. And the carefully selected shops, including Skins 6|2 Cosmetics and AllSaints Spitalfields. Oh, and the lovely collection of restaurants including Holsteins Shakes and Buns, Jaleo and STK. The gift shop, Monogram, is one of the best hotel gift shops I've ever seen. I only buy necessities at hotel gift shops, but I actually want to buy the unique jewelry pieces at this gift shop. I mean, even the hotel's stanchions are freakin' cute! Yes, I said the stanchions!! Dear Makers of The Cosmopolitan: For lack of a better way to praise your creation, I'll just go with -- you rock!

Cute Pink Flats For $5!

In my world, shopping is a sport.  You score points for finding cute things.  You score bonus points for finding cute things at reasonable prices.  The girl with the cutest outfit (who spent the least amount of money) wins.  That's how I play. 

I SCORED on these cute little pink Dollhouse flats.  I found these in the clearance section of my local Marshalls...and paid a whopping $5!  They may not  be your style but they look pretty darn cute to me.  And they were $5!  I win!

Fav Boutiques - I Can't Keep Secrets

I must admit - I myself am often drawn to chain stores. I visit my fair share of Forever 21s, Bananas, Gaps, Anthropologies, Urban Outfitters, Zaras, Mangos, etc. However, I love when I stumble across a cute litte one-of-a-kind boutique - the type of boutique you'll only tell your closest friends about because you really don't want everyone to know about your "secret" shop. The problem is that most people go to the chains and it takes loyal customers to keep these cute little boutiques afloat. I've seen some of my favorite stores shut down, perhaps because they weren't getting the support they deserve. So I'm dedicating this blog post to a couple of my favorite boutique stores - and I promise to continue to write about boutiques and support them (read: buy things from them) as often as I can!


Doppochic
Neighborhood: Belmont Shore
4913 E 2nd St.
Long Beach, CA 90803
(562) 438-4303

Every time I wear something I've purchased from here, I get compliments. They only sell women's clothing and accessories and some are on the pricier side, but they often have sale racks with items as low as $15. If you're hungry, you can shop here while waiting for a table at the next-door creperie.


The Circle Outlet
Neighborhood: Silver Lake
2395 Glendale Blvd, A2
Los Angeles, CA 90039
(323) 665-5336

Local Indie designers at outlet prices. 'Nuff said. Now you won't always find the same designers or a variety of sizes and you'll have to buy what you like when you see it because it won't be there again. But if you're a serious shopper like I am, you know these rules.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, baby. More to come on this subject. Trust me.