Friday 5 – Places to be Basic in Downtown Palm Springs

Taking photos in cute places is just what we do. Do you ever go to a hip and trendy place and NOT think to take a picture? Of course not. It is part of our society today. Capture the moment and post it on Instagram so all of your followers can see how cool you are. Apparently now that means you are “basic”. It is funny to think how the word basic has more of a negative connotation now than a positive, or that it can mean anything other than what it actually means. But you know what? If I am being honest, I like being basic. I like taking pictures where ever I go. I like going to places JUST to take pictures, and who cares?! Want to know who cares? ME! I know, I’m a walking hypocrite. I have been working on it though. When you just suck it up and have your friend take the “basic” photo of you like you don’t care what other people think because you are a confident woman, you realize everyone else around you is trying to be just that and is waiting for the right moment to not feel lame enough to take their photo in that exact same spot. Start giving others around you the confidence to just take the picture already!

Well now that we have that out of the way, I want to embrace being basic. My girlfriends and I started using the term “elevated basic”, which is what is used to describe the new line coming out exclusively at Nordstrom from style icon/blogger powerhouse Something Navy by Arielle Charnas. So I am starting something new. I want to start going places and finding five spots to be basic and take good photos in, sort of a Basic Girls Guide. So I grabbed my babes and we headed to downtown Palm Springs, my obvious new favorite place. Even though I have been downtown plenty of times, each time I find new spots to go. There is just so much down there it is hard to choose! We narrowed it down though. This is the.B.Law’s first Friday 5: places to be basic in downtown Palm Springs:

1- Farm, the cutest restaurant I have ever been to this far in my life. It is tucked away so you could pass right by and not even notice it. Before one of my girlfriends suggested it, I had walked by it numerous times. During the week and Sunday it is only open 9am-2pm, Friday 9am-2pm and 6-9:30pm, and Saturday 8am-2pm and 6-9:30pm, so you have to plan, you can’t just show up whenever you want. Side note: they only take reservations for dinner. When we were shown to our table I was in awe. Majority of the restaurant is a patio, but not just a plain patio, oh no. They have trees, vine covered trellises, and umbrellas. The tables are set with mismatched colored and shaped glasses, the napkins are different prints, all sorts of shaped and sized bottles as vases with simple flowers, even the bathroom was cute! I was in love. It was like we had just left the downtown strip and got to sit and relax in a secret place. The ambiance was very laid back, it was quiet and cool in the shade. Through all of this Instagram heaven haze don’t forget there is food here too! My girlfriends and I have been to Farm twice now and got the same appetizer both times that we spied on our neighbor’s table the moment we first sat down. Baked brie with brown sugar and hazelnuts, toast points, fig jam, and apples, need I say more? I wish I could eat that every day for forever. Farm is definitely the place for good food and good photos. Add it to your list. (Farm – 6 La Plaza, Palm Springs, CA 92262)

2- Ice Cream & Shop(pe) is connected to the ever so popular hotel Arrive. I found this place on Instagram and decided I wanted to go there just for a picture with their neon sign, “#Palm Springs is Better”. It turns out the rest of the shop is cute too and they have really good ice cream, which is good news considering it is an ice cream shop… The three of us ended up getting the same, LAVENDER ICE CREAM! It tasted amazing! I was kind of expecting it to taste like a lavender latte, you know, kind of perfume-y, but it didn’t. It was sweet and creamy and the prettiest color. I love that the shop doubles as a little gift shop with super cute and trendy things, like flamingo pool floats and tumblers. (Ice Cream & Shop(pe) – 1551 N Palm Canyon Dr Ste A, Palm Springs, CA 92262)

3- Ernest Coffee, because you can’t start Sunday (or any day) without a cup of coffee. To be honest I wanted to go to this specific coffee shop just for their book wall. I love book stores so of course I want a photo in front of what looks like a million vintage books. Getting a coffee and getting properly posed on the booth side is a must. Ernest doesn’t just have a cool booth with a book wall though, they also have a super cute patio with palm leaf print cushions! I’m just saying, if we are talking Instagram opportunities, then get yourself a mimosa because yes they serve those too, head to the patio and sit candidly on the palm print soaking up the glory of a Palm Springs morning. Darn I wish I would have thought of that one while I was there! (Ernest Coffee – 1101 N Palm Canyon Dr, Palm Springs, CA 92262)

4- The Moorten Botanical Garden and Cactarium, a cacti haven! I am sure you have seen this on Instagram already, but we went to the botanical garden basically for the cactarium. Along the path to the cacterium enclosure is pretty cool too though. They have cacti and succulents from all over (with some good photo ops obviously), and at the end was the cactarium in its own sort of greenhouse with rare cacti. Let me tell you, I want a greenhouse just to have the perfect lighting inside. Don’t worry, we actually looked at the cacti too. (Moorten Botanical Garden and Cactarium – 1701 S Palm Canyon Dr, Palm Springs, CA 92264)

5- The Palm Springs Art Museum, to look at art and stuff. We had been wanting to go here for a long time and the weekend we went happened to be the start of the Andy Warhol exhibit so that was really exciting. His art is so fun and colorful, and I feel like it just really fits today’s scene and Palm Springs especially. Regardless of the exhibit, doesn’t taking a photo at an art museum just feel so New York? (Palm Springs Art Museum – 300 S Palm Canyon Dr, Palm Springs, CA 92262)

I cannot sum up downtown Palm Springs in just five spots. I could probably do four or five of these posts because there are seriously so many places down there, I already have two more for the next time. If you have any Palm Springs suggestions, please let me know! I am always up for a new place. Stay tuned for the next Friday 5!

the.B.Law

Year End Party

Sorry it has taken me so long to write this post, everything has been so busy with the upcoming holidays! I am sure you can all agree. I cannot believe Christmas is in a week from today! Are you ready? I almost am… I think. I wrapped three gifts last night and felt very accomplished. I still have a few things I need to get though.

Anyways, last Friday the 8th was my work year end party. My boyfriend was away at training so I brought my best friend and we had a blast. The “dress” I wore I had had my eye on for like ever. It was on my wishlist at Nordstrom and I kept stalking it. Finally it went on sale for 40% off so I HAD to buy it. My reasoning for buying it was for my work year end party, yeah I think I bought this in like September, only four months early LOL! I put dress in quotes because it is actually a romper. I kept calling it a “romper dress” not knowing the correct term until my bffff and I settled on “dromper”. Come to find out thanks to Socialite via Instagram, it is called a “walk through romper”. If you are lost, basically it is a romper with a long back almost like a train. I guess technically it is like a mullet! I know that all sounds so silly but wait until you see it!…

See! I felt so beautiful and sexy in it! I don’t want to sound conceited but you know those outfits that just give you all sorts of confidence? Well this was one of those. There was one flaw though… it is very low cut which again yes is sexy however, in order for it to not fly open and show off your girls you have to tape it to your chest with dress tape. That’s fine, I put it on and got all taped up. I also brought the tape with me in my purse because after my first experience with dress tape it starts to come off when you get sweaty and I knew we would be dancing. Before the party my bfff an I met up with my manger and his wife for dinner and right before we left dinner I went to the ladies room to re-tape a little before heading to the party. Once in a stall I realized I was completely taped to my chest, and wearing a romper. THERE WAS NO GETTING OUT OF IT, which meant no bathroom for me! Um I was slightly panicked as I feel I may have the smallest bladder in the world. I felt slightly dumb for not thinking of that before making this wardrobe choice.

I ended up getting through it though and we had a lot of fun. We rolled in at about 9:45pm, got some drinks, took photos in the photo booth, danced. THEN at 11pm a surprise guest appeared… SNOOP DOGG! Last year Nelly performed but we were thinking no one would be there this year since we were having “celebrity DJs” which I had no idea who they were. Snoop was fun and we danced to his show for an hour. Once he finished we decided to leave but not before we got a picture with the former Angel player Hank Conger! All in all, a great and eventful night, I just love being able to dress up.

Outfit details!

My “dress”/”dromper”/”walk through romper” was from Socialite at Nordstrom (unfortunately it is sold out since I bought it a while ago but they do have this new one I am obsessed with: linked here!)

My necklace is from Something Navy’s line at Nordstrom with Treasure & Bond linked here (they just got a restock last Friday so you better hurry)!

My heels are from Target and they are pretty comfy! Find them here!

Cher’s dress is from French Connection at Nordstrom linked here!

Cher’s heels are also from Target and linked here!

lifestyle, Style, the.B.Law

Proud and Pretty in Pink – Empower Me!

So this post is a little late, but I wanted to write about the Proud and Pretty in Pink’s Empower Me! event I attended a couple weeks ago. If you do not remember, read this post Proud and Pretty in Pink, PPP is the organization I blog for. The women who started this organization are truly amazing. This event hosted a panel of five women who shared about their experiences growing up and what contributed to their self esteem, and where they are now. It was awesome because no matter who you were, you could have related to at least one of their stories. The variety was just so great. One of the girl’s stories even made me realize that I need to look at my similar circumstances in a different light. It was a very eye opening experience that maybe I will get to write about one day, but not yet. I am hoping through blogging for PPP I can open up more about my stories and help another just by even relating to them.

What PPP does is really great and I encourage you to take a look at their site proudandprettyinpink.com. They try to have events quarterly so I am really looking forward to the next.

These lovely ladies are the founders of PPP!

Style

New Bag!

I went to Las Vegas on Tuesday to go to a trade show for work and since I was out there, I got to see my Roomie!! I had a dinner first for work but she got to come meet us after at the Ghost Bar. It was a short meeting but it was so fun! Annnnd she gave me my birthday present. Please witness how cute and convertible it is:

It’s called the “Wallaby Mama Bag-In-Bag”. There are 5 different ways to wear this baby! She got it from Charming Charlie (my favorite place, I got some cute bracelets there today that I will show you later)!

Right after this blog I will be changing over to it because I can’t wait to use it. It’s the perfect start to Spring, especially in this warm weather we are having!!

You can find the bag here!

Click the B’ to follow me on Bloglovin’!

Style, Tragic events

#girlstrong

Dear Heather (aka Roomie),

I cannot believe that it has been a year since we started off on this adventure together. Remember when this was all just talk a couple of years ago? You and I talking all the time on the sales floor about all the ways we were going to decorate when we finally got a place. Then looking for a place, how hard was that? I would have never thought we would have had to look at so many apartments before we found ours. Then we found the one. We moved in and both realized that we had way too much stuff, and remember all those decorating plans? How well did those go? Decorating is expensive and so is everything else. We learned though didn’t we? Now we can budget, check the air in our own tires, and cook… kind of.

But this letter isn’t to tell you all of the things that you already know that we have gone through together. This letter is for you. The moment I saw the #girlstrong shirts I knew what I wanted to do. We are supposed to write about who makes us strong and I wanted to write about you. Heather you’re one of the people who makes me strong. You understand me so well, mostly because of the fact that we have had some very similar experiences. So similar it is almost unbelievable, but because of that, you have helped me get through them. I know I can talk to you about anything, you have such a great ear. When I say anything, I literally mean anything. I can tell you the craziest things, and I have, and you wont judge me. We have had some pretty interesting conversations that end with us laughing and feeling like crazy people.

Heather you are such an amazing person with an amazing heart. I want you to always know that. You are such a great friend, and not just to me, but to all of our friends. You listen and give whole heartedly. You always know what to say in just about any situation, or you know exactly what questions to ask. I could not have asked for a better roommate. I would not trade this experience for anything. No matter where we go from here, you will always be my Roomie. I love you so much. Thank you for everything.

Love always, your Roomie,

Brittany

We got these fabulous shirts from Shabby Apple, which we found on Instagram. In their post they said they wanted to celebrate the strength in all women so they created the #GIRLSTRONG, and for every post sharing who inspires you to be strong with the #GIRLSTRONG, they will be donating 10 cents to the Elizabeth Smart Foundation.

#GIRLSTRONG

The Fab Five

What’s in the Water?

My girlfriends and I are in that time of our lives where everyone we know is getting engaged and married. In our group, The Fab Five, two out of the five of us are already married, but now everyone else is getting engaged, except for the three of us left. We were talking about this the other day when one of the girls, A, said her little sister, who is also engaged, told her that her friend got engaged. I responded saying one of my little sister’s friends just got engaged too, and A asked if there was something in the water? This is when it got funny. After A asked that question my roomie chimed in with, “Can I have some of that water?!” T (who we are all certain is next to get engaged, we are just trying to figure out when) said, “It’s not in the water, I drink a ton of water and I’m still not even close!” Thinking along these lines I realized that I like barely drink water in general, but I am trying to drink it more. I responded, “I never drink enough water, I am never getting married!”, and the conversation went on:

Roomie: “Well there is no hope for me.”

T: “Maybe that is why I’ve been so dehydrated lately!”

Roomie: “I must be dead then!”

T: “I’m so dehydrated that I’m the raisin that everyone leaves behind in the trail mix.”

Me: “You are not a rain T! You are a cashew that everyone wants first!”

Rereading our conversation I realize how crazy we are, but it was just so funny! We will all get to that engaged point eventually, but until then, we will be drinking tons of water!

Stay hydrated ladies!

Tragic events

Raising Boyfriends

I was talking to one of the ladies I work with this week about hanging out with our girlfriends and what we were going to be doing over the weekend. She said that it is hard for her to get with her group of girlfriends often because they are all married and have their own things going on. She is about twenty years older than me so I know that we are in total different times of our lives, but this got me thinking about my group of girls. We all have such a good relationship right now. Whenever we get together we have so much fun and we are in a group message together all day, every day. Out of the five of us there are two boyfriends and two husbands (my Roomie is still on her man hunt). What is so perfect about our group is that all of our guys get along. Usually when we all get together, us girls and the guys, the guys go off on their own and us girls do our thing.

This whole thought about our guys getting along was making me think about dogs and cats. They do not get along, but when you raise a kitten and a puppy together, they do not know they are supposed to hate each other because they grew up together. I feel like since we introduced our guys to each other at the young points of our relationships, that they are kittens and puppies right now. Before this past August we were all boyfriend and girlfriend, or I guess you could say finances as well, but no one was married. I consider the marriage part of relationships to be the adult part. So since we all knew each other and were hanging out in our kitten and puppy stages, I think that our group will just continue to grow together as all of our relationships grow and get older.

Right now two out of the five of us are married, another two are in serious relationships, and the last is still searching, but she hasn’t lost hope. She told us how happy she is that she has four great examples of what a healthy relationship is, and now knows what she wants in a man. One important quality is that he gets along with the rest of the guys. Looking at our group, I do not think we will have an issue once all of us are married. I think that since we have “raised” our boys together since they were “kittens and puppies” that we will be just fine. There is not going to be any of that her husband doesn’t like so and so’s husband so we cannot invite them. We all just get along and it is easy.

So one day, twenty years from now, when I am in the time of my life that my co worker is now, I hope that our group is still the same, and that we get together as often as we do. I hope that the guys will actually refer to each other as friends and not think of each other as their wife’s friend’s husband. I hope that all of our future kids will be close like us and get along like they are actually cousins. Time will only tell, but thinking about the time of our lives that we are in right now excites me. Big things are starting to happen to us all. Two of us are married, two of us in the next few years will be next, my roomie will be following close behind, and once we have all experienced all of each others weddings together, we will start sharing a new time of our lives consisting of babies and a whole lot of firsts. Not only will we be sharing clothes with each other, we will be handing down baby clothes and advice. Our puppies and kittens will have grown up into men, fathers, and friends who have backyard barbecues, watching the kids run around, while us girls sit together talking about everything and everyone, as usual. That sounds like a pretty perfect future.

The Fab Five

I realized that I have been mentioning the Fab Five often and will continue to more, so I think some introductions are in order. Incase you haven’t figured it out yet if you follow my blogs, the Fab Five are all sorority sisters. The group consists of myself, my roomie, or H, A, T, and K. I know initials may be hard to follow but bare with me. So the group started off with A, K, and myself. We all joined Sigma Kappa first as freshmen and got pretty close, especially A and I. We were mistaken as twins a lot because we were always together and apparently looked alike. Two years later we got H (my roomie), and a semester later we got T. At this point we weren’t a group yet, but the universe was working. I was the current president and elections were coming up. No one was running against me so I knew I would be president again. A was running for Executive Vice President, which obviously she would get. It was meant to be, and we were the best team, girls still talk about it today and we have been out for almost three years. K got Vice President of Alumnae Relations, H got Vice President of Finance, and T got Panhellenic Delegate. This is when everything started happening. We ran our chapter and made it amazing. We were leaders. In spring of 2012 we graduated and got closer, now more than ever. Calling ourselves the Fab Five was kind of a joke, but it has stuck and now other girls from our chapter know us as that. We all talk everyday in a group message, hang out constantly, and now each host Sunday Brunch once a month taking turns at each of our apartments. Even all of our boyfriends, and now husbands to A and K, are friends. It’s actually pretty amazing having a group of friends like this, we all support each other so much and there is never a dull moment.

A– She is one of the classiest girls we have all met, and she is beautiful. Being called her twin is such a big compliment to me. She is always so put together. When she lets loose though it’s so fun and reminds her she is just like us. She was also the first to get married this past August.

Me (aka: B)- I am the one they always want to get drunk and make me let loose because I never do. Until recently I was always the one working, but now I have a regular job. I am also apparently the dainty one. My boyfriend is the unlikely one who we all knew of in college because he was in one of the fraternities.

K– She is the innocent one and we love it. She also doesn’t drink much like myself, so it’s fun to get her to let loose too. K just got married this month. She is a beauty with a big booty.

H (aka: Roomie)- She is obviously my roomie and amazing. She is our little chihuahua and will tell off anyone who messes with any of us. We are in pursuit of finding her a man right now.

T– She is the one friend in the group who will say what everyone else was thinking but is too scared to say. She and H are feisty when they are together. She has a boyfriend too and is most likely the next to get engaged.

The five of us together make a fabulous group. Everything that makes us different mixes so well together. Now that you know who is who, stay tuned for more stories.

-Stay Fabulous

The Fab Five, Tragic events

Bach•Bash

Our group of five just recently celebrated our second bachelorette party. The second out of the five of us is getting married in a week.

The first bachelorette party was in Palm Springs, this one was in Pasadena. We started the day off with a pole dancing class. That is so hard. I was sore for almost five days and my feet still have bruises on the tops of them. We thought we were doing good until the instructor told us to watch our faces. Our concentration on trying to make our awkward bodies sexy resulted in very ugly faces. They were a mix of concentration and pain. Honestly how can you make a “sexy push-up” sexy? Sexy or not, it’s still a push up, and your knees are digging into wood floor. We looked like five unsexy girls, with no athletic strength, whose faces looked like we smelled something weird. Nevertheless it was fun and an awesome workout.

After pole dancing we drove down to Pasadena. My roomie is in the wedding so she was in charge of the balloons for the pole dancing class. We had to bring the balloons to the hotel next, so she and I drove from Chino Hills to Pasadena with twelve balloons in the backseat. Not only were the balloons obstructing her vision of driving, her passenger side mirror is shattered from someone hitting it and leaving. I had to be her eyes for her to get into the lanes on my side. The balloons kept creeping up to the front seat and trying to stick to our hair. So there we were, driving half blind, with a car full of balloons, and both of our hair sticking up on end. Again, we were pretty sexy.

By the time we got to Pasadena we were dying from malnourishment since we had only breadsticks all day, and the smell of the balloons was making us sick. I googled a McDonalds because it is fast and cheap. Perfect! It was literally a mile away… Okay we should be pulling up on it right now… It should be on this corner… Why is there just a big building on this corner… GOOGLE LIED! We both felt like vomiting by this time and dinner wasn’t for another two and a half hours. Next I looked up a Burger King. This one was a little over a mile away. We were so scared that it wasn’t going to be there anymore too. We found it though! We saw the big sign of the BK Lounge. I got a double cheese burger and she got a ten piece chicken nugget. We literally moaned after every bite. It was one of the best meals we had ever had. Instantly I felt better and ready to take on the night.

We found the hotel and got ready and all that. Luckily we were all in the same room minus the bride. Dinner was good at Pops Champagne Bar where my roomie and I successfully finished a full bottle of wine together. After dinner was the usual bar hopping and DDing (Dancing and Drinking). At last it was 2 A.M. and the last call already passed. It was time to go back to the hotel. We looked up where we were, only 0.6 miles from the hotel. One of the girls asked if we should call a cab. One of the other girls, T, and I looked at each other and both said no it’s not that far, we can walk and make it (clearly we were both broke and didn’t want to pay for a cab). Half way into this journey back to the hotel, T and I were dying. All the other girls had comfy heels except for her and I. Our pumps were killing us. She wanted to take hers off and I told her no! Just like she told that last bride, A, at her bachelorette, we are better than that! WE DO NOT TAKE OUR SHOES OFF! She and I just walked slow behind the rest of the girls. Eventually we kept getting farther and farther behind. We were down to practically a crawl. The other girls stopped and waited for us. They started cheering us on like we were running a marathon and were almost to the finish line. We felt like crying our feet hurt so bad. The hotel was in view though. The second we walked into the lobby we kicked our shoes off. It was the second time I was in heaven that night, first a burger, now walking barefoot in the Hilton lobby.
It was time for bed. We got in pjs and drank some water and Gatorade to avoid a hang over and in minutes the lights were out. About a half hour later I heard a weird noise. I was sleeping next to my roomie and asked what it was, she didn’t know. It kind of sounded like a wrapped. All of a sudden I heard a cork pop, then someone drinking from the bottle. I looked up and saw A putting the bottle down and get back into bed and fall asleep. What the heck! In the morning I asked her if she remember popping bottles in her sleep and she had no idea!
All in all, the trip was a success. Two bachelorette parties down, three to go. May the tragicness continue and get better with each one.

Psycho Girls

PMS- Psycho, Mad, Sad

Us girls all know that when you hang out with your girlfriends often, you all start to get on the same track, do you know what I mean? Eventually all of your special girl times will be right around the same time, especially if you’re roommates. My roomie and I are right on schedule with each other. It was so funny because last month our group of five, aka- the Fab 5, all of us and our boys got together for “Friendsgiving” and literally all of us were on our time of the month. One of the girl’s husbands heard and said, “Oh my god you girls are all PMSing together!” His wife quickly corrected him saying PMS is pre and we are passed that part, to which he responded, “Fine then you are all MSing together.” Boys logic.

Anyways we are about in the pre time again and my roommate and I were texting back and forth today about how we were sad for no real reasons. She was saying how she is the only one without a guy and I had this absurd idea that my boyfriend didn’t even like me anymore. I mean he didn’t even text me back for like two and a half hours. I soon found out that he was in a meeting with his district manager. I then realized that I needed to snap out of my little funk because I was being a typical girl. PMS should really stand for Psycho, Mad, Sad because that is literally our cycle that recurs again and again until our time is up. We will be perfectly normal, then we will get a psycho girl thought like our boyfriend isn’t texting us back because he doesn’t like us anymore, then we get mad at our boyfriends for not texting us back, then we get really sad that he doesn’t like us anymore. After this cycle we calm down when we find out he was in a work meeting the whole time and are calm until the next incident sets us off.

I was watching a comedian on Netflix the other night with my boyfriend and he said that girls are like rescued dogs and they need to keep them calm or they will get set off. I thought that was really funny because it is kind if true. We are not crazy, we just get an excuse to be psycho for a week without getting institutionalized. Boys it is best to just do what we say and get us chocolate and tell us that we are pretty.

PMS-Psycho, Mad, Sad PMS-Psycho, Mad, Sad PMS-Psycho, Mad, Sad PMS-Psycho, Mad, Sad

PMS-Psycho, Mad, Sad PMS-Psycho, Mad, Sad PMS-Psycho, Mad, Sad….. Okay I’m happy now.

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the.B.Law

Brittany Lawrence

Tag Archives: girlfriends

Friday 5 – Places to be Basic in Downtown Palm Springs

Year End Party

Proud and Pretty in Pink – Empower Me!

New Bag!

#girlstrong

What’s in the Water?

Raising Boyfriends

The Fab Five

Bach•Bash

PMS- Psycho, Mad, Sad