Oprah in NYC

If all goes well this weekend I might meet my ultimate hero – Ms. Oprah Winfrey.  I’m heading to New York very early tomorrow morning for her “Live Your Best Life Weekend” in celebration of “O” Magazine’s 10^th anniversary.  A good friend of mine (and ultimate New Yorker), her mom and I will be joining Oprah, Gale King, Dr Oz, Suze Orman, Nate Bercus and the rest of the HARPO team (and a few thousand other people...) for a three-day ALL-THINGS-Oprah celebration.  Starting with a “Welcome Reception” tomorrow night, followed by “Lifeshop” seminars with Oprah gurus all-day Saturday, an Oprah evening event at Radio City Music Hall (where she “brings her auto-biography to life), and a charity “Live Your Best Life Walk” Sunday… it promises to be an AH-mazing weekend. 

I'll admit that I've been Oprah-obsessed from a very young age. There are worse things than living your best life.

O-tastic. 

k

I dream in Louboutin

Yesterday I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Parisian Designer, Mr. Christian Louboutin. Known to many as a shoe God - the creator of the infamous red “GO” sole that dons the LUCKY feet of women everywhere, Christian made an exciting appearance for Los Angelenos fans at his Hollywood boutique. The event was scheduled from 4-7pm and loyal followers (myself included) waited upwards of three hours to have the master sign his works of art. Christian spent a few minutes with every guest, taking his time while autographing the arch of his shoes – greeting you by name.  He called me “Kat” which I let less than five people in my life get away with, he’s now one of them.

Christian Louboutin (pronounced KRI-shtaan Lu-bu-THAN)’s designs aren’t for the faint of heart, or wallet... Some pairs could finance a vacation. I avoided this level of shoe-lust for as long as I could for many reasons. A lot of his designs are sky-high (heels upwards of 5 inches) and standing at 5”10 barefoot I don’t need the extra lift. But the weekend before last I went to Saks on my first operation CL. I tried on a reasonable heel height  (3 1/4”) in a style I fell in love with, and was pleasantly surprised that they were as comfortable as some other favorites in my shoe emporium. It took me a week to go back and pull the trigger; they aren’t a purchase to be made lightly. But in anticipation of last night’s event I found myself back at Saks last Saturday letting the love affair begin. Yesterday was my new “Simple 85 Nude Patent Pumps” debut, and fittingly I took the left shoe right off my foot for Christian to sign. One fashionista friend (love you J ♥) rightfully said they're now an heirloom... agreed, I will definitely have them FOREVER. 

GO!

k

“The Happiest Place on Earth”: Adult Disney Land

If you’ve spent a good amount of time in LA, you’ve likely been to, or at least heard of The Grove.  Outdoor malls are amazingly common in Southern California (one of my most exciting discoveries when I first visited LA), and this one stands out from the rest.  Mainly because it’s across the street.  But aside from being 5 seconds from my door – both a blessing and a curse for a major consumer – The Grove is somewhere that makes you smile.  On a good day the shops and boutiques provide easy access to shopping (aka “research”) – and because I always knew I was destine to live within walking distance of a J.Crew, it feels like home.  Favorites Anthropologie, Nordstrom, Victoria Secret, Michael Kors and Barnes & Noble are all conveniently nestled between the fountain, park, statues and the historic Farmers Market (celebrating it’s 76^th birthday this summer). It also doesn't go unnoticed when I walk through Nordstrom's shoe department to get to Starbucks.

My favorite part about The Grove is when I have visitors.  It provides easy access to shops, restaurants, and a movie theatre without getting in the car.  My brothers were big fans of Apple and Nike – they enjoyed breakfast at The Farm and a very special 13^th birthday celebration at Maggiano’s.  I also may have made them ride the double-decker battery-powered trolley that runs from one end of the shopping centre to the other.  Few other riders were over the age of 5, but it brought back some found memories of Santa’s Village for me and I know they loved it.☺

I love “The Grove” at Christmas.  Every November marks a ceremonious tree lighting ceremony where a 110-foot Christmas tree is lit.  Rockefeller-style (and The Hills season 1).   The entire centre is COVERED with lights and holiday decorations.  It’s magical.  They even have fake snow, which is highly entertaining for us non-California natives.  No shortage of the real stuff in Canada!

Many celebrities visit The Grove – so far I’ve only seen Steven Baldwin (who’s guest role on Gossip Girl starts this Monday) and Emily Blunt at a Question & Answer after a showing of her movie "The Young Victoria"(sorry I forgot to list both of these sightings in last week’s post) – but I see press highlighting regular sightings and I'm all eyes. 

I definitely won’t live across the street forever, but for one reason or another I’ve got a few more months in me.  Come February it’ll be time to head West (in closer proximity to the Ocean), so for now I’ll keep appreciating “The Happiest Place on Earth” being right at my doorstep.

Visitors welcome!

k

What are you, famous?

One of the most common questions I’m asked when I say I live in LA is, who have you seen? Here goes – in no particular order of amazingness:

• Jennifer Aniston – at a taping of Chelsea Lately AND at the table right beside me at the Polo Lounge at The Beverly Hills Hotel

• Malin Akerman – Swedish bombshell from “Couples Retreat”, “The Proposal” & “27 Dresses” - walked by me in Beverly Hills

• Joshua Jackson - Pacey from “Dawson’s Creek” - crossing the street on Rodeo Drive. Canadian!

• Jason Bateman -“Juno”, “Up in The Air”& “The Hogan Family” - having brunch with his wife and daughter at M Café. Yummmm

• Kings of Leon  – “I could really use somebody” - at the Sunset Marquis Hotel on my birthday

• Orlando Bloom – Pirates of the Carribean - with Kings of Leon 

• Lauren Conrad – reality star – at the Thompson hotel, met her 

• Los Bosworth – reality star - at the same event at the Thompson

• Carmen Electra  - “Scary Movie” – also at the Thompson 

• Jenna Dewan – “Step Up” (married to Channing Tatum - they met while filming) - also at the Thompson

• Jessica Lowndes – at the Thompson and LAX  - met her - Canadian! 

• Tayee Diggs – "Private Practice" - dining with his wife and friends at Angelini Osteria restaurant. He's my ultimate. 

• Jamie Foxx – "Ray" (Charles) - at a Jay-Z concert

• Lucy Hale – “Privileged” - my neighbor at the Palazzo

• Ashley Newbrough – same as above 

• Jeff Perry – Meredith’s dad on "Grey’s Anatomy" – hiking Runyon Canyon

• David Sutcliffe – played Kate Walsh (Addison Montgomery)’s boyfriend on "Private Practice" – numerous times on Runyon

• Chelsea Handler – at a live taping for her show “Chelsea Lately”

• Trainer Bob (Harper) from "The Biggest Loser" – at Starbucks

• Alfre Woodard – "Desperate Housewives" - at my Pilates studio 

10 months and going strong... It's a good thing I don't get overly excited and show all my emotions on my face - or this could get embarrassing.

k

“Wait till you see my smile."

- Alicia Keys

This past Tuesday, I saw Alicia Key’s perform at The Staples Centre. This was my first time at the home of the LA Lakers (and the Clippers and Kings) and I won’t say it’s the best concert venue - but Alicia did not disappoint. She put on a phenomenal show. Her “Freedom” tour promotes her latest album (released December 15, 2009), “The Element of Freedom”. If you don’t already have it, buy it – you’ll love it. “Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart” might be the best song of all time.

This is the second time I’ve seen Alicia live. My sister and I saw her in Toronto a few years ago, another incredible show. Her songs and lyrics are fresh and inspiring - and she’s one of those artists who sounds even better live (listen to her live tracks on the album). She’s tied with Beyonce for my #1 - with Rihanna as a close second for favorite female artist.

Born and raised in New York her 2009 collaboration with Jay-Z, “Empire State of Mind” tore up the Billboard charts. If you've heard it, you love it. It’s also the theme song for the Sex & The City 2 trailer “Carrie On” – in case the song alone wasn’t enough to give you chills…

“Sometimes you just need to start over in order to fly.” – AK

k

Happy Easter!

“There's nothing better than a good friend, 
except a good friend with CHOCOLATE.” 
- Linda Grayson

Living in the US you could easily forget about Easter, especially in the wake of more widely recognized holidays like Passover here in LA.  Easter isn't a commonly recognized American holiday from the traditional sense for us Canadians (aka time off school or work).  Few people get to take either Good Friday or Easter Monday as holidays - even less get both - with the exception of some offices, libraries and schools that will be closed Friday.  And for the schools that do close, it’s called a “Midsemester Break” in an attempt not to involve religion.   

It's been rare to find me in Toronto for Easter for a while now.  I used to take the long weekend (adding Monday to the Canadian recognized Friday corporate holiday) and head to New York, Boston (watching a special someone run the Boston Marathon… M!) or LA.  This year is no exception as I won't be in Toronto, except that now I’m the one with visitors coming to me.  My little brothers!  I’m not entirely sure what our weekend will entail, but I've got SEVERAL ideas of how to entertain a 12 and 16 year-old here in LA.  I just hope they can keep up.   

Happy Easter to YOU and YOURS!

k

PS.  It's April 1st... RABBITS!  Wishing everyone a month of good luck.

She's LIVE

After an eventful morning (with a slight failure to launch... mon dieu) - HERE SHE IS!!

http://www.whataretheywearing.com/

Weighing in at 18 characters (w-h-a-t-a-r-e-t-h-e-y-w-e-a-r-i-n-g) – after 10 months of somewhat excruciating labour – my baby’s live.

Starting Monday she’ll be updated with new content weekdays, and like a true LA baby she'll be receiving a few cosmetic enhancements and improvements in the next few months.  Stay tuned…

Get excited!!

k

My first quake

After an uncharacteristically long stretch of 7-days of dining out with friends and visitors (miss you K!), I had a friend over for a drink Monday night – leading to an equally rare uninterrupted long stretch of nights involving red wine. So when I woke up with a jolt at 4am to everything shaking, I'm not totally surprised that it took me a second to figure out what was happening. My first thought was why is the full-length mirror in my bedroom (weighing a good 50 lbs) shaking? Then I realized, everything was shaking. Not just my room, or my building, but the ground. The world was shaking! It felt like the sky was falling. In total, it probably lasted less than a minute, but it felt like longer. I remember thinking, “oh.... this is it, this is the big one!!” It wasn’t like I had enough time to think of what I should do, or that I would have had any idea what to do... So when it ended I did with every other Los Angeleno also jolted out of bed likely did, I went back to sleep. 

A few hours later I woke up to a message on my blackberry asking if I was OK (thanks J!), a friend had heard there was an earthquake in LA. Yes there was, and thankfully yes I was. Most of my close friends out here hadn’t woken up or felt it, and I was able to alleviate any concerns before the news really spread East. I'll admit it’s a weird feeling to wake up and google “earthquake today in LA” to find out what had happened to you the night before... It was reported as a 4.4.  Not large by Haiti (7.0) or Chile’s (8.8) recent and utterly devastating standards.  But if I’d ever wondered what a 4.4 felt like, I now know.  And let me tell you, I can’t even begin to imagine the shock of a 7 or above. No thank you. 

There are almost 10,000 earthquakes every year in Southern California. Nearly everyday there's a quake. And although most of them go undetected in the 2 to 3 magnitudes, the fact alone is hard to ignore. 

So I’ve survived my first notable quake.  The “first-responders” were put on alert but news reports have no one reportedly injured, and aside from part of a freeway caving in (no surprise, with the horrific road conditions out here that could happen on a good day) all seems to be find in the city of la la.  Let’s hope it was my first, and LAST shake.

And shhhhhh, please don't tell my mom...

k 

Still Gorgeous

The week before last, I went out for dinner with close friends in Beverly Hills, and we were LUCKY enough to spot Jennifer Aniston sitting at the table beside us.  It was a good hour into our meal, when I looked over and after a few good takes (double, triple, quadruple…) I turned to my best friend in utter disbelief saying “uh, is that who I think it is?”  She said, yes, she’d even noticed “Aniston” on the reservations when she checked in with the maître d' - but hadn’t wanted to get my hopes up.  Smart thinking, I don't take a top five sighting lightly...

It was a Tuesday night at the Polo Lounge in the Beverly Hills hotel.  A hot spot for celebrities, because similar to the Sunset Tower (another one of Jen’s favorite venues where she reportedly enjoyed their gourmet cookies and fries with girlfriends just days before presenting at the Golden Globes, looking better than ever - true story, see below), they don’t allow paparazzi and discourage photos.  Excitingly, Jen was actually sitting at the same table we’d been (with another close friend) six months earlier.  Pretty sure she was in my seat. We were practically hugging. Ahhh-MAZING.

It’s undeniable that Jen is gorgeous.  She’s charismatic and possesses an infectious star quality.  But she also has something more than your classical good looks.  She glows.  She radiates.  There’s something about her that leaves you staring...  And I guarantee that’s what I was doing for the hour she was there with us (for a drink with a young male, someone I’d put as a member of the media if I had to guess).  You just can’t take your eyes off her.  So I didn’t.  My friends were highly entertained at my over-the-top reaction (although surprising?  No).  They wanted me to go say hi, introducing myself and the site, but I just couldn’t bother her at a place where she goes to not be approached.  Jen and I will have our moment, and you loyal readers know this isn’t the first live LA spotting so far.  We ended up walking out at the same time as her.  She left on her own, heading in the direction of the rooms and probably a private exit.  I stood watching in shock with an ear-to-ear smile.  Numerous text, PIN and BBM reports soon followed.

Supporting Jen’s fantastic glow was the perfect outfit.  Her legendary golden-blond hair was pulled back in a high ponytail, with her long layers swept behind her ears.  She wore a casual pale blue tee, with a medium weight gray (assumed to be cashmere) scarf, faded blue jeans, and boots (think Fryes).  On her right wrist was her signature large gold Rolex (see top pic) that she often wears (rumored to be a gift from ex-John Mayer) paired with a thick black leather cuff (no studs or detailing) giving her a classic yet current and edgy look. Perfection. 

Friends?  Yes, please!!

k

“Don’t tell me what you’re going to do, tell me what you’ve done.”

I love this saying. I consider myself a person of action – a doer, not just a talker. Yesterday marked 10 months to the day that I started my extended trips to LA to get whataretheywearing up & running. Last month marked a year from when I first formally put this bold life-changing plan into motion. And if all goes well, this Monday, March 8^th will mark the much-anticipated soft launch of the site. T minus four days & counting. Not to mention it’s also the return of new Gossip Girl episodes & Oscar Boxing Day. An exciting day I don’t mind sharing.

There are a few more t’s to be crossed and i’s to be dotted in the next few days, so in the interest of no more over-promising and under-delivering, I won’t say that Monday is set in stone. But things are looking good. Finally. It’s been a long long road together…

For anyone interested in a preview, this is essentially what's going live:

WHAT ARE THEY WEARING

I'll be starting daily posts next week. And although I’d give the site a 7 overall in my own unrelenting perfectionist ranking, there are more development projects in the works to make it a 10. She's getting there.

If you do have a chance to check out the staging site in the next few days – any & ALL feedback is welcome. Thank you to those of you who have already been a great help so far. It’s much appreciated. Every bit helps.

Ready!

k