Health + Recipes: Banana Chai Smoothie

Simple recipes with less ingredients are not only fun and easy, but healthier for your body! This simple smoothie recipe from Free People is delicious and nutritious. Make this at home as part of your breakfast or for a mid-day snack!

Cinnamon is known to help lower blood sugar for people with type 1 or type 2 diabetes. It can also lower LDL cholesterol levels. Chai on the other hand is a great digestive aid! And of course bananas are packed with potassium and fiber ;)

Enjoy the taste and the health benefits!

Makes 1 smoothie

1 banana
1 cup almond milk
1 tbsp chai spice (add more or less, depending on your taste!)
1 cup ice cubes

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

Add all ingredients to a blender, and blend until smooth.  Top with a little bit of nutmeg or cinnamon!

Sweater Weather

It's almost sweater season! Stock up on some of our favorite must-have sweaters from Minnie Rose, Free People, Autumn Cashmere and more!

Look of The Week!

Look of the week from our Lolla store styled by Courtney! Jacket is by Free People, top by Haute Hippie, necklace by Chan Luu and jeans by Citizens.

Inspiration: Positivity

Happy Memorial Day! Start today fresh with good thoughts :)

source 

PL Summer Inspiration

Love

Fresh and healthy greens and veggies

Stripes

Relax

Fresh beverages

We are so excited for the fresh breeze of summer to come! Only a few weeks away from sunshine and warmth. Here is our summer inspiration collection to welcome the season with good energy, love, style, and health :)

Taken by Trees new album. Exotic and soothing. 

Maxis, flats and denim jackets for the day

Soft floral prints and Audrey Hepburn, our timeless inspiration. 

Yoga. Namaste :)

Dancing

Free summer waves

Loose blouses and printed bottoms

Flowy fabrics

Ocean breeze and printed maxis

Lotus, a symbol of purity and beauty

White maxis and smiles :) 

Wise words

Fresh flowers

Self love

Lifestyle: Spring Cleaning with Victoria

         Creating a theme for certain areas of my home is something I love to do. It seems to give a home more personality, and most importantly, a reflection of who you are. Amongst our PL ladies, I'm definitely on the far side of PL boho chic (Cynthia Vincent, some Rory Beca, BB Dakota and prints/textures of Maison Scotch), mixed with a little bit of Woodstock-hippie (my impossible obsession with Free People). Hence, my style from clothing to decor leans more on the busy/eclectic side; mixing patterns and textures, layering everything, using mixed media, and incorporatnig flowers in any possible way...including my hair :D

      With that being said, I tend to surround myself with none other than flowers, ethnic printed fabrics that catch wind easily, and a generous supply of inscents and candles. Anything that contributes to a peaceful and open-heart enviroment.

           My desk has always been a crazy melting pot of graded school papers, uncapped pens and markers, smeared inscent ash and magazine tears (that's a third of the list). The pile eventually became too distracting, so I decided to rejuvenate my desk into something that was more... me.

         I took this as a way of "spring cleaning"; cleaning with attempted creativity in order to create a visual representation of your soul's story. That is, taking reclaimed items and giving them a decorative purpose instead of getting rid of them. You could also consider it indoor recycling. A Green Movement contribution:D

        Throughout the progress, I got more and more into creating this "story"of mine, and it ultimately became a two hour session that felt more like 10min. It was simply exhilarating in the most unexpected way. In that, I'd like to pass on my new "spring cleaning" recipe to you, and encourage all to try getting in touch with yourself by turning your surroundings into bits and pieces of you. The energy and space around you will feel more peaceful and even more exciting.

        The next time you find yourself with nothing to do on an afternoon, try re-decorating your jewelry in a unique way,creating a story out of your kitchen decor and supplies, or using old scarves you bought from the flee market years ago and turning them into drapery to hang over your bed.

The possibilities are endless :)

A simple side view of the mix.

Adding flowers to my desk seemed to make the overall feeling more fun and playful. To me, flowers symbolize happiness, freeedom, and new beginnings :)

When taking off my daily armor (layered bangles, necklaces and usually my favorite PL vintage gypsy earrings thanks to Kara's genius vintage seeking skills), at the end of the day, I tend to get lazy with putting them back where they belong. It's an impossible situation of mine, so I decided to embrace the flaw and turn my end-of-day laziness into a form of necklace drapery. That way, no matter how carelessly I fling my necklaces onto my desk, they'll still somehow manage to go along with the look...I hope ;)

I found this wooden hand at Leaping Lotus, located right accross the street from our Solana store on Cedros Ave, and have had it for years. It has always added an interesting touch to a given space, especially for jewelry. I think they still sell these! 

I find that empty wine bottles go to waste often, when they could be used for other things. So instead of throwing them out as a part of my spring cleaning, and spending more money on buying candle stick holders for added decoration, I decided to turn this bottle into one! I love the way the wax drips down the bottle. 

My favorite circle glasses from Free People, and Marc Jacobs Gardenia spray that I occasionally like to sprits around my room. Gardenia is beyond soothing.

Although there was no functional purpose in adding my paint stained mason jar of paint brushes into the mix, they hold the significance of  painting and art being my soul food, an add to my story.They should belong with my other art supplies, but I figured it would be cool to place items in a location that it usually wouldn't be in. Makes things more interesting. Try it!

Ah! My favorite candle of all time; Anthropologie's Volcanoe candle sent from the heavens. A must-have all year around.

Last but not least, my favorite necklace that I will forever cherish by Cynthia Dugan (thanks Mom). No matter where I place it, it always seems to make everything around it look like art. Try taking your favroite piece of jewelry and turning it into a display :)