Talalalalalalalalala

2012-02-06T13:31:00.000-08:00

Karl Lagerfeld for Metro! Karl has the ability to make anything relevant again, even the newspaper :) I really liked his recent comments in the Metro: "I do what I want because I have fun, you know. I don't want to be the designer who designs one look that you're known for, for the rest of your life, and then he disappears and he dies ... I like the continuity to play with fashion. I have no problem, no reason. I do Chanel, which is the French version of me. And Fendi is my Italian version ..." Oh, Karl, you are a true renaissance man, trying your hand at everything.

2012-02-05T18:41:00.001-08:00

Once a year I watch professional football: for the Super Bowl. This year was no exception, and I loved it all, from the Volkswagen commercial to Clint Eastwood's somber but positive messages, Madonna's classic bright performance to M.I.A. flipping off the cameras, the touchdowns to the dramatic end. Most of all, I appreciated Gisele's encouragement of Tom. The email she sent to her friends and family asking them to pray for Tom and her embrace of him after the game (while wearing a Rick Owens leather jacket and Chanel purse!) really showed her genuine support and love. Anyways, just being at the Super Bowl automatically makes you a winner; all the players, coaches, and those associated with the teams should be mighty proud of themselves. Go Teams! Go Gisele! Go World Peace!

2012-02-02T16:40:00.001-08:00

I was in Mobile, Alabama earlier this week for a short work trip and now I have the song “Sweet Home Alabama” stuck in my head. I did not dare sing it out loud in Alabama, as it was my first time in the state, aside from driving through twice (once in 2005 where my father and I stopped at a Subway and could not understand anyone’s accent and ended up ordering sandwiches we didn’t even want; and another time in 2007 where my brother and I were stopped by the highway patrol for a speeding ticket, which I eventually forgot about and ended up getting a warrant issued for my arrest, resolved with a hefty fine and cries of worry from my mother), and, of course, I did not want someone to hear me and actually think that I would consider Alabama “home”.

Home is Los Angeles, I reminded myself as I sat in a Southern podunk eatery and sipped my unsweetened sweet tea, thinking of what was happening at home. Imagining the city, and inhabitants thereof, you can figure there is probably traffic crawling on the 405 and the 101 the 10 and PCH, and even the 110 and 134 and 118 and the 5, and anywhere that anyone can bring wheels. On the corner of Camden Drive and Little Santa Monica there is a line at Sprinkles as people are ordering the Blake Lively-inspired cupcakes, while at Literati Café on Wilshire and Santa Monica law students are hunched over their laptops, listening to the latest indie band due to perform at Coachella from the speakers overhead. Medical students wake up from their naps and get ready for the night shift at Cedars Sinai, Harbor and Olive View. Hipsters are walking on Silverlake and Franklin while texting their Intelligentsia order, and industry heads in Century City are driving in their German cars while talking on their cell phones about the weekend box office grosses. Real estate agents are showing homes in Beverly Hills and Holmby Hills and Cheviot Hills, wearing their sunglasses even though the sun has set. Cabo Cantina and Busby’s start filling up for happy hour with UCLA and USC fraternity and sorority kids, and moviegoers begin picking out their seats before the films begin at the Arclight and the Grove. People are jogging in the Palisades and putting on their light knit-sweaters in Santa Monica and catching the surf in Malibu. The alley in downtown is almost deserted, Mexicans push away their carts of chili powder-sprinkled fruit, Koreans roll up their fabrics in the fashion district, and Persians put away their display items in the jewelry district. Kitson is closing on Robertson so the tourists gaze at the menu in front of Newsroom and Kitson is closing on Melrose so the models take a seat at Urth Café and both Kitson and Kitson Kids are closing at Santa Monica Place so the teenagers walk to Third Street Promenade. On San Vicente in Brentwood you can order late afternoon lattes from Coral Tree or Coffee Bean or Starbucks and then walk over to Pinkberry or Yogurtland or Menchie’s for low-fat, high-sugar dessert. The Lakers are playing a home game at the Staples Center, a hip singer-songwriter is performing at the Nokia Theatre, and those not inside the venues stand around L.A. Live and watch it broadcast on the giant screens. Sushi chefs chop vegetables at Katsuya, hot grills sizzle with kabob in Westwood, yoga mats are rolled out in Venice and weights are lifted at Equinox. Lights are turned on along Sunset in Hollywood while the cars go up and down through the canyons, Laurel and Coldwater, turning on Mulholland and Ventura, arriving in the Valley, into the strip malls and the suburbs. All the while, dreams continue to grow, hope stays alive, and the city of Angels shines bright. And in my version of the song, I changed the lyrics to "Sweet Home California" ;)

2012-01-13T23:40:00.000-08:00

It is January. And although the weather in Los Angeles is a steady 74ish degrees, I can not help but feel the Winter attitude ... there is lull in activity and downshift in movement. We need that regeneration of the Spring to lift us back up! Here are a few romantic black and whites to shake us up!

2012-01-03T09:53:00.000-08:00

Hello faithful bloggees! I have completely fallen off the mark and missed updating the past couple months. A very belated Happy Holidays and Happy New Year. 2011 provided me with the highest of the highs and the lowest of the lows, and I am thankful and appreciative for it all. A half dozen photos below summarize some of the moments which I did not blog about previously. I am going to try really hard this year to live each day as if it is my last ... because if the Mayans are right, 2012 really might be the last ;)

2011-10-24T16:08:00.000-07:00

Hello, fellow bloggers and stalkers. I am back from my 12-day excursion to Chicago and the Washington-Baltimore-Northern Virginia Metropolitan Area. Thank you to my many hosts, friends, family ... It was definitely an eventful trip :) In Chicago, while my brother was saving lives as a medical resident and my friends were at work, I was left to roam the city and traverse the El. After attending the North American Bahá’í Conference on Law at the John Marshall Law School, I was able to do fun, personal things by myself that one does not usually get to do during the span of our busy and hectic lives, such as shopping at Topshop, getting my hair blown out at the Elizabeth Arden Red Door Salon and visiting the Art Institue of Chicago. It was a a few days of being able to reflect on my own self while experiencing the many different and diverse Chi-town neighborhoods. Here are a few photos from my trusty blackberry (iphone who?) showing my love for vibrant Chi-city.

2011-10-11T20:04:00.000-07:00

I just came back from Miami and am now on my way to Chicago and Washington, DC. All these trips are exciting - visiting friends and places I do not normally get to see. It does feel like I am trying to escape Los Angeles ... Nevertheless, Miami was a dream. Gorgeous people, gorgeous building, gorgeous beaches, and a gorgeous atmosphere. My highlights were staying in the Viceroy, eating at Meat Market, partying all over South Beach, viewing the unique art deco, and even biking from Lincoln Road to the Port. No wonder everyone wants to bienvenido a Miami ;) I absolutely cannot wait to go back!

2011-10-03T17:11:00.000-07:00

Paris, hope and heartbreak. Three things that are on my mind always.

2011-09-19T17:10:00.000-07:00

It is the middle of September now, which means back to school, and for me, back to ballet class. J.Crew is also feeling the "Swan Lake" spirit and has paired cashmere sweaters with ballet tutus. Perfect for the little ballerina in all of us, no matter how old we are ;)

2011-09-13T15:37:00.000-07:00

The past couple of weeks I had the opportunity to travel for work to Arkansas and West Virginia. Not very hip cities, but I went places where I would probably never would have actually thought to go to. Here are a few snaps from Little Rock and a couple from my drive to Martinsburg. The former was obviously more exciting, given that the Clinton Presidential Center and Library is there.

2011-08-25T00:15:00.000-07:00

Lauren Conrad launched her Fall 2011 clothing line for Kohl’s last week. I have never even been inside a Kohl’s department store so I really had no expectations. Her line is sweet, very dreamy and whimsical. Not sure if I would actually try to find my nearest Kohl’s to buy her clothes, but in a moment of boredom anything can happen, right?

Reading about LC’s charmed life got me thinking about The Hills and I started watching past episodes. It made me realize why I like Lauren and why I have been able to relate to her so much. She put forth her feelings and emotions in every situation. She openly communicated, knew the difference between right and wrong, and held her friends to the same standards and expectations she put forward. Watching Lauren deal with friendships, relationships, family, career, or even the basics of navigating through a fast-paced materialistic city, allowed me to see myself in her scenes. It was not the story of LC, but the story of all twenty-somethings, figuring out who we are and who we want to be while putting our lives together, even when we don’t have all the pieces. Pairing together Lauren’s facial expressions with some of my most favorite touching and poignant quotes shows that hardships, heartbreaks, and pain are universal, and we should use these tests as blessings, learning from them, and developing our personal and spiritual growth. “Grief and sorrow do not come to us by chance, they are sent to us by the Divine Mercy for our own perfecting.” -- ‘Abdu’l-Bahá

"Stop torturing yourself, her friends said. Stop living in the past. He was gone. Capital G--Gone. He wasn't coming back. She should focus not on the pain, but on the possibility. Something good would come from all this heartache, something always did. Everything, her friends told her, happened for a reason. She should start looking for the silver lining. She thought she might start looking for new friends." -- Aryn Kyle

"Closure is a greasy little word which, moreover, describes a nonexistent condition. The truth ... is that nobody gets over anything." -- Martin Amis

"Perhaps this is what the stories meant when they called somebody heartsick. Your heart and your stomach and your whole insides felt empty and hollow and aching." -- Gabriel García Márquez

"Later, her first intense, serious love affair, yes then she'd lost something more tangible, if undefinable: her heart? her independence? her control of, definition of, self? That first true loss, the furious bafflement of it. And never again quite so assured, confident." -- Joyce Carol Oates

"We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." -- Anaïs Nin

2011-08-15T10:11:00.000-07:00

I just got back from a weekend in San Francisco where I attended the Association for Bahá’í Studies Conference. The sessions of the conference focused on “Transforming Habits of Thought” in which the theme name came from a message the Universal House of Justice addressed to the Conference of the Continental Boards of Counsellors on December 28, 2010: “Apart from the spiritual requisites of a sanctified Bahá’í life, there are habits of thought that affect the unfoldment of the global Plan, and their development has to be encouraged at the level of culture. There are tendencies, as well, that need to be gradually overcome. Many of these tendencies are reinforced by approaches prevalent in society at large, which, not altogether unreasonably, enter into Bahá’í activity. The magnitude of the challenge facing the friends in this respect is not lost on us. They are called upon to become increasingly involved in the life of society, benefiting from its educational programmes, excelling in its trades and professions, learning to employ well its tools, and applying themselves to the advancement of its arts and sciences. At the same time, they are never to lose sight of the aim of the Faith to effect a transformation of society, remoulding its institutions and processes, on a scale never before witnessed. To this end, they must remain acutely aware of the inadequacies of current modes of thinking and doing—this, without feeling the least degree of superiority, without assuming an air of secrecy or aloofness, and without adopting an unnecessarily critical stance towards society.”

Attending the sessions and listening to the varied disciplines in which participants interpreted their “habits of thought” supported my understanding that Bahá’í values can be transformative, but in order to have a positive effect on society, we must align our thoughts with our actions. Nothing will change if we do not act; we cannot act without first transforming our thoughts; and our thoughts must reflect our spiritual nature and values. The conference concluded with a talk by Rainn Wilson, who appropriately quoted a statement by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience.”

2011-07-18T21:22:00.000-07:00

This weekend, not only did I witness an incredible Willy Wonka-themed birthday party, I got to create my own Carmageddon-themed bbq (thanks to EMTsweeetie)!! It was so nice to drive around Los Angeles without any traffic, a big thank you to all the Angelenos who stayed off the street and the tourists who stayed out of LA. This weekend was one of the most peaceful and pleasant experiences I have had in a long time.

2011-07-08T22:25:00.001-07:00

Although it was a last minute decision, I planned a small afternoon lunch in Malibu with a few of my closest friends for my birthday. It was delightful!

And to top off the birthday festivities, Prince William and Kate have paid a visit to Los Angeles, where they are socializing with another British Royal, David Beckham ;)

2011-06-28T17:29:00.000-07:00

Dear Universe:

For the past five years I haven’t wanted to acknowledge my birthday. Not because I don’t like presents, cupcakes, flowers, balloons or attention, but because with every passing year it made me realize I was getting older, farther away from my dreams. This year is no exception. I have planned an afternoon dessert party for Sunday, but suddenly, I am lost on what the point is. To celebrate another year of not accomplishing the goals I have set out for myself? I am trying to stay positive, appreciating the people and things in my life, including my health, family, friends, education and Faith, yet, sometimes I need a reminder of what is important. Show me a sign?

putting it out there,
Tala

2011-06-22T19:11:00.000-07:00

Today (or yesterday?) marks the first day of Summer. So happy that the June Gloom is finally over! Here are some inspiring photos to get you in the mood, with my chosen colors of the season: cotton-candy blue, bubble-gum pink, and creamsicle orange.

I will mostly be in Los Angeles, which is the best place to be during the summer. For the Day-glo sunsets, the hiking-trail dust that gets under my fingernails, and the feel of a gas pedal under my nearly bare feet. It is a strange mixture of urban and tropical, with skies that look both vaguely toxic and heartbreakingly beautiful at the same time. Hope you all get to experience it first-hand someday.

2011-06-02T09:40:00.000-07:00

Flying to Chicago in a few hours for my brother’s Medical School graduation and was thinking about all things Chi-town related such as: deep dish pizza, Bulls, Blackhawks, Cubs, White sox, the Navy Pier, Wrigley Field, Magnificent Mile, Lake Michigan, Sears Tower, the L, Oprah, the Bahá’í House of Worship in Wilmette, and the city’s many misnomers, like the Windy city, Chicagoland, and Chi-city, when I started humming “Homecoming”, Kanye’s tribute song to his hometown of Chicago.

Chicago is the Heart of America, with a mix of the East coast and West coast caught up in the Middle. And it really is the place of Sana’s homecoming, as he is graduating from Chicago Medical School and attending family medicine residency program at Northwestern. Congrats and best of luck, my older lil brother!

2011-05-25T23:09:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, I wish I was born a French girl, with effortless chic style, a carefree attitude, side-swept hair, Longchamp bag in one hand and carrying a woven basket filled with baguettes, cheese, grapes and strawberries in the other. Seems like I’m not the only one – witness Kanye West at Coachella pulling off a women’s silk blouse from the Céline S/S 2011 RTW collection, also worn by Clémence Poésy, the epitome French girl. Touché, Kanyé.

2011-05-13T22:43:00.000-07:00

As promised, here are a little more than a dozen blackberry photos taken while vacationing in Playa del Carmen. It was a fantastic trip, filled with a tour of the Mayan ruins in Tulum, plenty of Mexican food (fish tacos, fajitas, ceviche, huevos rancheros, and enough guacamole and salsa to last me a life-time), snorkeling in the cenotes of the Riviera Maya, rappelling and zip lining through the forest, swimming in the warm and glistening waters of Mamitas Beach, enjoying the nightlife and the laid-back town of Playa del Carmen, and relaxing in our luxurious condo residences at El Taj. All of these adventures, combined with a fabulous group of some of the most fun and delightful people in the world, made for an exquisite and entertaining fête. Big shout-out to the organizers, Roxanne and Roja, with a special mention to Anissa, Martha, Samira, Anyssa, Olivia, Shireen, Navid, Nima, Yvette, Justin, Nima, Carmel, Saam, Leila, Nicole, Gus, Nieku, Nataly, Jen and Crystal. Miss you all, including Joaquin! See you soon in another paradise.

2011-05-07T02:50:00.000-07:00

After spending hours looking through the photos and videos of the Royal Wedding, I am fully satisfied with the class and beauty of that majestic day. However, even though Prince William and Kate make an adorable couple, the only reigning king and queen of gorgeousness is Victoria and David. And their counterparts in America, Gisele and Tom, have once again captivated the fashion insiders at the Costume Institute Gala held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. So much hotness. From a cute attack to a stunning invasion, both these couples seem to get better and better as the years go by. I hope Victoria gives birth to a girl who ends up marrying Gisele's son ... Now that would be a Royal Wedding!

2011-05-05T16:37:00.000-07:00

Happy Cinco de Mayo, everyone! I just got back from Playa del Carmen, so am really in the VIVA MEXICO spirit. Will post a few snaps from my exotic trip abroad, but first I have to spend a few hours reviewing everything that happened this past week: a royal wedding, the death of a dictator, and a fabulous ball. Interesting how the "real world" has elements of a Disney movie ... a simple girl becomes princess, the bad guy gets killed, and we all live happily ever after. Here's hoping!

2011-04-18T19:22:00.000-07:00

Just got back from Coachella 2011 and am still overwhelmed. The sights, the sounds, the heat, the people, the fashion, and the awesome and unbelievable talent which not only wowed the audience but was so appreciative to be able to perform there. Festival-goers from all around the world were all united for the chance to see their favorite artists. Nothing was shocking but everything was amazing. Unbelievable. It was really an investment into our memories. Need to sleep now. Wake me up in time for Coachella 2012!

2011-04-12T21:41:00.001-07:00

HOLD UP. After coming home from ballet class tonight, I plopped down to relax in front of the tv, watching Marie Antoinette, and during one of the scenes in which Marie is walking up the Versailles steps, I hear snippets of one of Kanye West's new songs? Did Kanye sample a song from Marie Antoinette? Are all my worlds colliding? And speaking of collisions, Coachella is this weekend and I am finally attending. All around epicness.

2011-04-05T22:39:00.000-07:00

I have started taken ballet classes again (and by again I really actually mean the first time in my adult life since the age of eight) and am realizing just how hard it is. Even though I leave the studio sweating, my thighs shaking, and my toes practically broken, I feel more flexible, graceful and liberated. Just wanted to share this below video illustrating how hard ballet can be! ;)

2011-03-19T14:42:00.000-07:00

Welcome to one of my favorite times of the year -- the Spring Equinox and Naw Ruz (Norouz/Norooz/Nowrooz/Nowrouz)! And this year, just like every year, all of Tehrangeles is in the spirit by sending out messages of goodwill for the year. During a quick drive-by on Westwood and Santa Monica I spotted a few ads from a Family Law/Immigration Law Attorney, Papa John's Pizza, Wells Fargo, a Social Security Disability advocate, and Amir. Thanks for the well wishes, everyone, and Happy Naw Ruz!