
Julia Jones opened Encore Bridal in Manhattan Beach nine years ago. However, the dream started long before that.
“I was sketching bridal designs when I was seven,” she said. “I’ve always loved fashion and everything ‘wedding’, to the point of obsession.”
Yet, finding the couture dress of her dreams for her own wedding proved to be an ordeal. After scouring all of Los Angeles, she took her pursuits online.
“But I didn’t feel comfortable buying on EBay or Craigslist,” she said. View photos and read about Julia Jones

When Princess Diana and Prince Charles were married in 1981, Manhattan Beach resident Lisa May threw a party.
She wore a special dress, invited over all her best girlfriends and watched the fairytale spectacle over and over again all night.
“That, to me as a young person, was a defining moment of what the whole wedding thing is all about,” May recalled.
Today, May is just as obsessive about planning perfect weddings. But she’s equally passionate about making them eco-friendly.

As our enviable Southern California winter rolls on to a close, South Bay residents may once more pack away their sweaters and coats in exchange for bikinis, board shorts and tank tops. It is time to clean out the closet and trade in last decade’s fashion trends for the new, burgeoning style of 2011. But what does this style entail exactly, and what are the major differences we should be watching for as we embark on a whole new decade of beach fashion?

In honor of the New Year and trying new things, Wild Things is stepping out of the ocean wildlife comfort zone to examine a fascinating land-dwelling, sand-loving critter called the California legless lizard. A major challenge facing legless lizards is being mistaken for a snake. So it’s time to set the record straight and raise the public profile of legless lizards with some positive PR.