Essentials of the Week / 1

Some days call for major retail therapy, and today is one of those days. After splurging, or I mean, thoughtfully shopping, I found items that I thought our readers would like. So what am I enamored with this week?

The Batchel: From Cambridge Satchel, in Oxblood. Every other color is so perfect, but this one definitely takes the top with the rest of this outfit.

Saffron Dress: From one of my favorite online retailer, Shabby Apple. This is part of their new Moroccan-inspired collection and it's absolutely lovely. Don't mind me, I'll just be twirling over here.

Lip Balm: From EOS, of course. Nothing I'd rather be using, especially when on-to-go, which is basically all day and every day.

RIGHT NOW Sandals: From Seychelles Footwear. How appropriate is the name of the sandals? No time like now, right?

Lip Tar: In Neon Fuchsia from Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics. A dab of this and EOS, and my lips are ready for a show.

Dark Tortoise Eye Glasses: These are my new glasses from See Saw Seen. While I do wear contacts, I always prefer the look of glasses. It's just a great accessory, and these are definitely my favorite.

Essentials // Lucia Tran, Editor-in-Chief Illustrations // Katie Ryan for Zooey Magazine

Summer-Inspired Packaging

Many of our friends are spring and summer babies, and so we are often looking for ways to make their birthdays extra special starting from the exterior of their gifts: the box. With supplies from Cute Tape and a bit of imagination, we bring you some inspirations for your gift boxes and other snail mail. Reinvent packages - add color to those white envelopes, and add a touch of glitter to your postal craft boxes!

Are you inspired to wrap more presents now? We're feverishly wrapping up everything...and unnecessarily. Uh oh, it's becoming an office addition. Must. Washi. Tape. Everything.

Supplies // CuteTape.com Lettering // Ashley Buzzy McHugh Photographs // Rustic White Photography

Zooey's 1st Workshop

Last year, we hosted a crafts & cocktails party with our favorite ladies from A Beautiful Mess, Shop Ruche, and Seychelles. Because we simply ran out of time this spring, we couldn't host an event on that scale. Instead, we decided to collaboratively host a calligraphy workshop with our friends from Seychelles and brought in our contributor Rebecca Caridad to teach the two courses. It was the perfect Saturday filled with ladies from all over Los Angeles.

And here comes the food... or we mean, dessert. Luckily for us, all of our friends are so talented and are pastry chefs. We had cereal panna cottas from Love Bites Catering LA, cookies from Milk Jar Cookies (the best!), lemon bars from Eat Sweets Pastry (we live for these), and we mixed our own drinks - even with some Vita Coco!

In case you're wondering, we pulled out a pretty tea towel from Light Rust Studio as part of our dessert/drinks bar decor. The design was far too perfect for this day.

We had such a great time with 2 dozen students. What should we teach next? Would you want to attend more classes? We'd love to meet all of you next time!