Featured Blogger Friday: "Paisley Petunia"

(Pretty Note: If we're nice to these seriously Pretty ladies of Paisley Petunia, I'm hoping they will teach us how to look this good. Everyone, lots of comments & applause, please!)

I often natter on here about my beloved homeland, Southern California, and that certain sun-drenched joy of the people there. Today's featured bloggers, Christina and Stephanie of Paisley Petunia, embody that inimitable spirit. With their each & every post about the good life, be it about style, travel (Pretty Obnoxious Self-Promotion: like my guest post here), or good eats, these chic LA ladies remind me of that laid-back California glam I miss so very much.

I like these two so much, I won't even hold it against them that they aren't from San Diego, which is universally acknowledged as the true gem of Southern California. Without further ado, here are Miss Christina & Stephanie:

First off - we are so excited to be participating as a Friday Featured Blogger! Thank you I Pick Pretty for picking us.

What Inspired Them to Start Blogging:

C + S: We met while working together, and we were actually blogging before we were officially blogging because everyday we would send each other emails with links saying “oh did you see this?” “let’s try this restaurant!” “have you been to this vintage shop?” Each day was one long forwarded email between the two of us. We both read loads of blogs and then one night over margaritas and queso dip at our local Mexican dive bar, we finally took the plunge and thought of the name. It seemed like giving it a name made it real and got us fully invested. Christina bought the domain name from her Blackberry right then and there. The next day we were so excited (and a little nervous) as we plotted how to follow through from our tequila-aided decision.

C: I’ve been reading Melissa C Morris, Go Fug Yourself and PopSugar from way back in the day but it was Yelp! that really got me started looking for blogs and realizing how much I loved finding someone who I didn’t know but who’s opinion and suggestions were like nuggets of wisdom from a cool, new friend.

S: I also liked all the Sugarsites in the beginning and then started to discover the individual gems like Cup of Joe, Nie Nie Dialogues and Rockstar Diaries. I love getting lost for hours it seems like, linking from one blog to the next, seeing what people write, capture, find and create.

Their blogging inspirations - aside from living in LA, an inspiration unto itself:

S: Hmm besides LA? I am inspired by my friends and what they are doing to change the world. I am inspired by creative genius with food - at Paisley Petunia we love eating and we don't discriminate from In-N-Out to Korean BBQ Taco Trucks to Nancy Silverton and Spago. I am also inspired by talented photographers and clothing designers - two skills that I do not (yet) have but greatly admire + enjoy!

But really, this great urban sprawl provides me with a lot of inspiration. The people walking down the street here have amazing style that I try to emulate. I live in Venice and the beach is my reason for living here. It makes me happy each day. Venice is particularly eclectic and funky; you just never know what you are going to see at the coffee shop each morning. Some people don't like LA, and I can see why, but if you give it a chance, you can find a beautiful and interesting place with lots of opportunity and sunshine.

C: Inspiration other than LA…hmmm. That’s tough because LA is my inspiration for almost everything. But I love reading blogs that focus on creative DIY ideas particularly as they pertain to events and entertaining, such as A Lovely Morning, Eddie Ross and Girl Inspired.

I also love photography and design blogs because it never ceases to amaze me how many talented (discovered and undiscovered) people there are in the world. Two of my favorites are Pois Rouge and Nectar and Light.

I love food blogs too, since I’m always looking for something unusual to cook or for a new restaurant to try. I love Making Food- Eating Food and Orangette.

How they coordinate blogging schedules:

C: Ha ha, I laugh because initially we thought we would create a google editorial calendar and we would each plan out our month of posts. That lasted about a week.

I generally write about whatever pops into my head. Might be something I saw in my late night magazine reading or a conversation I overheard at Peet's or the never ending fashion show that is LA. Of course, there are some exceptions and we do try to help promote Paisley-approved organizations when they have events or news. I think the blog is still like a FW: FW: FW: email between C+ S, we love that we get to share it with other people but probably we would be doing exactly the same thing even if we weren’t blogging. (Pretty Note: This is part of what I like so much about their blog; it does feel like two friends having a chat.)

S: It's great having a blogger partner for many reasons - for those days when you are slammed at work, the other one can pick up for you and its great to have someone to bounce ideas off of. Shoot, I should have said above that I am inspired by Christina. She is great fun to blog with!

What are some of your hobbies outside of blogging?

C: I showed hunter-jumpers for the first 28 years of my life and when I finally hung up my Vogels, I realized I needed to find something to do with my new found free time. I discovered a love of entertaining and cooking; now gardening and photography have been added to the list. I also do a lot of work with animal rescue- helping to keep sad-homeless-scruffy dogs off the street. (Pretty Note: I will be your BFF if you all promise to get involved in animal rescue, right now.)

(Pretty Note: Look, it's a pony! In related news, I'm dying to learn how to jump like this - someday . . .)

S: My hobbies include going to the beach, riding my bike around town, hiking the nearby mountains, reading my book club book and trying new restaurants. I love bargain hunting (maybe I am kind of cheap, but who doesn't love a good sale?!) and vintage clothes shopping. My tailor is my other best friend.

Where they see themselves in 5 Years, both personally & for their blog:

C + S: This is a really good question and spurred a great conversation for us. We love our blog and are having so much fun. The interaction with readers is like the icing on the cake. In 5 years, we hope that that blog will have 5 years of titillating archives and will be a collection of things we loved, ate, saw, wore, liked and did. It will be a great online scrapbook really.

S: Personally, I am not sure where I will be - possibly moving back to my hometown of San Francisco?? Or maybe the sunshine and beach life have made me a permanent Venetian, not quite sure what the future holds. I hope to be happy and my life full of lots of adventure, love and really delicious food.

C: Oh sheep! That’s hard. Maybe…

• Finishing up my fourth season on the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, having brunch with Tim Gunn and Martha Stewart and sitting runway side for fashion week (totally kidding of course.) (Pretty Note: Commendable goal only if I'm invited to said brunch & runway.)
• Or maybe: on a ranch outside of Boulder with 10 dogs, 4 horses, 2 kids and a 5 acre organic farm? (not completely kidding about this one.)
• Or maybe still here in LA strolling around Bev Hills, eating at a different restaurant every week, throwing parties and blogging (this seems reasonable.)

But seriously, I do hope wherever I am I have started a small foundation that can give grants to neighborhood based organizations doing compassionate work for animals and senior citizens.

What they want a new reader to know about your site before clicking over:

C + S: We aren't trying to be mysterious with the C + S, we both just have really long names and thought it easier to abbreviate. You can call us Christina and Stephanie

Also, we never blog about something that we don’t actually enjoy, like or believe in. No pay for play and we plan on keeping it that way. Our readers are our friends (albeit virtual ones) and we want to be 100% authentic about we share with our friends.

And, we don’t like mean! We made it our mission to keep our blog happy and positive. People have enough negative in their real lives; we’re just a daily nip from the happy bottle.

(Pretty Note: Nodding my head in agreement with all of this.)

The top 3 reasons Southern California is better than everywhere else (not that we're biased):

1. The Weather, hands down. We get cranky when it gets below 68*

2. The Food (why do you think Angelenos are so obsessed with working out…too much good food to pass up!)

3. The location - we've got the Pacific Ocean, the Santa Monica Mountains, the whole crazy Hollywood thing, Bevery Hills and a blossoming downtown. It’s a huge place with so many cool neighborhoods to try. We have each been here for about 9 years and there is still so much to do (and blog about!)

Thanks, C and S! Readers, please go check out Paisley Petunia here. You can also follow Christina's Tweets here and Stephanie's here.

Note: If you would like the supremely, intergalactically prestigious honor of being a featured blogger, please check out my guidelines here. Please forgive me if it takes me a bit to get back to you. Thanks for your interest!