Packing my suitcase.

I stumbled upon another reason to go to California: The Hotel Bel-Air. Ha! Like I could afford it.... Maybe on my honeymoon. That would be so 1950s, to go on a honeymoon to Los Angeles. And I'm kinda liking the idea - screw Tahiti!

A blogger of Material Girls, one of my favorite design blogs, did this great post featuring the newly re-vamped hotel. And I am drooling. 

I have never wanted to go swimming so badly. That symmetry is divine. 

 I bet the food served at this outdoor dining area is uh-mazing. 

 I'm really liking the alabaster lamp, the rug and the wall art.

That bed looks like heaven and that personal patio is so inviting. Such a relaxing room. 

 Pretty spectacular. I would loooove to have those curtains in my studio.

Very rarely do I stay at nice hotels, so I do enjoy daydreaming about them. And when it comes to hotels I have stayed at, several stand out in my mind:

1. The Hill Country Hyatt outside of San Antonio, Texas - The first hotel of my memory (my family was really into camping on family trips), I went there twice with my neighbor friend Caroline and her family when I was in elementary school. I was practically the third child in that family which worked out great for me because they had cable TV and really good taste in hotels. Another bonus: her mom was always giving me free makeup samples she got from Clinique. Was it normal for me to be wearing brow pencil and lipliner in 4th grade? I don't know! And I don't remember much about the Hill Country Hyatt except that I knew it was thefanciestplaceI'deverstayed. And there was a LAZY RIVER rambling through the property - a kid's DREAM! It really set the hotel standard too high considering how young I was. Shame.

2. The Best Western Plus, Sunset Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles - Stop. Do not judge, you snobs. Best Western or whatever, it's a charming little hotel on Sunset Blvd. right in the thick of West Hollywood. I stayed here with my aunt and my mom while taking a vacay in college and it was awesome. One night while coming home from dinner, we even pulled up to a red light a few blocks away from the hotel and guess who was in the car next to us? Chandler Bing! And he was totally relevant back then too! All of the rooms at the Sunset Plaza open up to this adorable bouganvilla-covered courtyard and pool. It was easy for me to pretend I was staying at a little villa in Europe, because for all I knew villas in Europe were just like that - I hadn't been! And let me just say, when I finally went to Europe, I was disappointed because of my expectations set by the Sunset Plaza. Just kidding! I've never even been to Europe. I'm saving it for when I'm old because there's no way in hell I'm riding in an Indian autorickshaw after I hit retirement.

3. The Hotel in Times Square, NYC - Unfortunately, I don't remember the name of the hotel or even any kind of identifying details because I was so totally overwhelmed by the thing that is New York City. I do remember it being this totally glam, towering hotel where you could look over the balcony outside your door and view down to the gorgeous marble floors in the hotel lobby. I got the lucky chance to stay there on a trip with a bunch of fellow journalists and graphic designers, aka my high school yearbook staff. We covered so much on that trip, and I remember freaking out most when I looked up and saw the TRL studio (I know... of all the things in NYC I could have been freaking out over, but I was in high school). Anyway, the whole trip was such a whirlwind that I totally felt like I was in a movie. I remember sitting on the bed in my hotel room, having just been to the Virgin Records store where I bought Saves The Day's album Stay What You Are and I put on my headphones and oh damn, the nostalgia! I haven't thought about this stuff in forever! Okay I'm over the California thing, it's all about New York City now. Moving right along before I hyperventilate with excitement over my new plan...

4. The Pacific Sands Motel in Santa Monica - Okay, you can judge. Go for it, it's totally fun to. Five college friends and I drove up to Santa Monica from San Diego for the weekend and because the majority of us were living on broke-college-student budgets, we ended up staying at a hotel that was on the cheaper side. And by cheaper I mean it was an official "1-star" hotel. Whatever, we were 19 years old and could handle it because it was ON THE BEACH and walking distance from the Santa Monica Pier. The seediness of the hotel, and the parking lot, and the other people staying there became a huge joke to my friends and I. And then about 6 months after the trip, my friend Annie and I were sitting around watching The O.C. and our favorite little hotel popped up on the screen. Yeah, what? The scene changes from a beautiful shot of the Cohen house in Orange County to the seedy-ass front of the Pacific Sands Motel. And then we see Charlotte, who Kirsten has recently befriended in rehab, and some criminal looking dude in the motel room, discussing their plans to con the Cohens out of a lot of money. Shocker! And yeah, it all went down at the same hotel my friends and I had just stayed at.


Next trip to Cali, I'll go for something more like the Hotel Bel-Air.