'twas a bijouxs-iful day

still tremendously sad.  today is cinny's memorial service, and i've got my purple on - no one who knows what's going on will see me, but it's comforting to take part in this teeny-tiny way.  thanks, all, for your kind words of comfort.

but you know, life goes on.  and she would be the first to [cyber] smack me upside the head and tell me so.  and so i move on to recapping a super fun event i attended last week.

one of my junior league sisters is a former chef who learned on the fly - literally.  she was employed on a private airline and learned her trade from lessons and books and through trial and error, and put together a website in which she shares her "bijouxs" (little jewels) - recipes that she's collected and saved over the better part of the last 30 years.  a lot of them have never seen the light of day since she first used them, and now she's working on publishing a book as well as posting them on her site.

the launch party for the site was at another JLP hangout - where else, but onesipkim? 

i somehow managed to score on a parking spot right in front of the store.  like, literally in front of the door.  the parking gods were smiling on me that night.  and even better - i grabbed a handful of quarters to feed the meter, only to find that it still had almost two hours left on it from the last person who'd left their car there.  i considered it a sign of good things to come.

as i walked in, the first thing i saw was the table o'swag.  there was also a big ol' pile of pasadena magazine, as the site had been featured in the food & wine section of the current issue.

there was a free raffle, too, for a fabby-looking gift basket stuffed with cooking gadgets, wine, and a pair of jeans donated by OSK herself.

and, of course, in the corner, the newly-launched site was projected onto the wall for all to see.

i was experiencing major sensory overload, people.  so many of my favorite JLPers were milling around, there was food, wine (which we all know doesn't really matter much to me, but it was still quite the attraction), and a whole store chock-full of OSK's hand-selected merchandise.

once my eyes adjusted to all of the fabulousness, i zeroed right in on this awesome dress that i had to try on.

there was an incredible pair of shoes there, too, that i wanted desperately to scoop up - but i refrained.  the picture i got of them is super fuzzy, but trust - they were FABULOUS.  man.

the woman of the hour took the floor for a few minutes to welcome everyone to the party, say a few words about the site, and offer thanks to all those who had helped put it together.

i walked around the shop a gazillion times, making a mental wish list of a few of my favorite things.

and then my streak of luck continued - i spied a pair of skinny hudson jeans on the clearance rack, in my size and "ankle-length.'  of course, that only meant they would be perfect for me.  no hemming!

i scooped those puppies right up and paid for them, despite the voice in my head that screamed "the hub is going to KILL you, you need another pair of jeans like a freaking hole in your head!"  but look at the adorable reusable shopping bag i got to take them home in:

and look - it comes in a mini size, too!

another highlight was getting to meet this sweet little one, born to one of our JLPers this summer:

 and the night wouldn't have been complete without a couple of group photos.

on my way out, i sampled a couple of these pretty little chocolates:

grabbed my swag bag, and found myself directly across the street from another fantastic shop i'd been wanting to check out for a while.  more on that tomorrow.

in the meantime, congrats to chef gray on the launch of bijouxs - and the upcoming cookbook!  yay!