Golden Gate Park

(jacket/jeans-Gap, lace top-H&M, purse/earrings-Kate Spade, shoes-UO, headband-GapKids, watch-Michael Kors, necklace-Anthropologie)

-photos taken by Mario-

Spent Sunday in Golden Gate Park enjoying the lovely weather San Francisco is getting in January!

We strolled around and the park, watched the sunset and got Korean food for dinner.

I'm loving this jacket I got at Gap--the floral camo is fun, and I played off the camo with the leopard headband and lace top.  

It ended up being a comfortable outfit to wear to the park and blended in with the nature!

xoxo 

Tangled up in Blue

(top-J.Crew, skirt- Leifsdottir, purse-Vintage, faux fur-H&M, earrings-Kate Spade, heels-Stuart Weitzman, necklaces-Vintage/J.Crew pin)

I was incredibly lucky to get to do a fun fashion photo shoot with the well known (and not to mention lovely) Bay Area photographer Veronica Suh.  

Veronica is also my colleague and friend, so we spent the day laughing, catching up, eating cupcakes and exploring each other's creativity through fashion and photography.

For more of her amazing work please check out her site and blog @ VeroSuh Photography.

Enjoy!

 And stay posted as there is more to come!

xoxo

Dear Yosemite, I love you.

Yosemite in the winter is one of the most magical places to visit.
The snow that covers Yosemite’s majestic landscape creates a peaceful feeling -everything seems calm in the snow.

I had a blast visiting Yosemite with my boyfriend, sister and brother –it was the best way to ring in the new year. 
I always come back inspired and relaxed.

DIY Sunday

Aren't you sew in love with these DIY Valentine's Day cards? 

Papersource has this awesome DIY stitched heart card kit that you can get to make these cards for your Valentine.  

These cards are fun to make and have such a special handmade crafty touch.

The kit has four different heart designs you can make, but I personally love the crazy heart with the random stitches.  

Even though he might hate for me to admit, Mario (my Valentine) made the last card in red and purple.

We enjoyed making these while listening to crazy rap music before we went out for our Sat night.

Let it Rain

(dress-Alice & Olivia, necklace-DIY, shoes-UO, socks-Gap, watch-Michael Kors, belt-Wasteland, hat-Thrift)

These pictures are sort of goofy and remind me of Charlie Chaplin with the umbrella.

I always want to dance in the rain when I have an umbrella and use it as a baton to bust out some broadway dance moves.

I usually make this Alice & Olivia dress fancy and wear it for special occasions since it sort of reminds me of Sleeping Beauty. 

But I wanted to wear it on a not-so-fancy occasion (going to lunch with mom/sister for yummy Thai food), so I added lots of colors, a funky thrifted belt, a DIY necklace and fun polka dot socks.

And Voila, the outfit is fun instead of serious and too fancy for the daytime.

Simple Mood

(dress-Wasteland, sweater-UO, shoes-UO, socks/tights-Gap, hat-Thrift, necklaces-H&M, UO, Vintage)

Took these photos in a little town near Yosemite.

The last two photos my brother took with his camera with real black and white film, which adds such a cool mood you don't get to see enough of anymore with all the digital photography. 

Oh, how this small town can create such a simple mood on a lazy rainy day.

I always score special vintage finds at the antique stores on this street, and I actually got the hat I'm wearing this post in this town.

DIY Sunday

 

This personalized DIY monogram is a great way to add some flair to your room.

I made this for my sister for  Christmas and kept it in the white color scheme as she mostly has whites in her room.  

Here are the steps below to make your personalized DIY monogram. 

Supplies for this project:

1. 1 letter of your choice.  (I got mine at Paper Source, but you can get them at any craft store) 
2. 1 picture frame of your choice.
3. paint.  (to paint the letter the color of your choice so it isn't the standard brown it comes in)
4. any items of your choice to collage (I used scraps of lace, pressed flowers, feathers, cut up graph paper, rhinestones, silk/dry flowers and buttons) 
   

Steps to Make your personalized Monogram:

1. Paint your letter with a couple coats of paint to get the color you want on the background of it. 
2. Once the paint dries on your letter start collaging it with your inspiration!  My suggestion is to make patterns that follow the shape of your letter to emphasize its geometric shape.
3. Take out the glass from the frame.  Insert a sheet of paper into the frame (this will be your background).  I used graph paper for mine, but you can use a collage of different paper, photos or a sheet of colored paper.
4. Once you are done with your letter, glue it onto the sheet of paper yo put inside your frame.
5. Now go wild and decorate the actual frame.  The more stuff the better as it will really capture the mood you want.  
6. Then you can add some more collaged pieces on the inside of your frame around the letter if you want to add some more flare.  (you can see I added the paper lace on the inside around the D and a little feather/flower section on the top right inside corner)

Now you are done and have a personalized monogram!

  This is a great project to do for yourself or a great personalized gift to give someone for their Birthday. 

The Cactus King

(jacket-Thrift via Wasteland, jeggings-Gap, shoes-F21, thermal-UO, purse-Dooney and Bourke via Wasteland)

On the road to Yosemite we always make a stop at Poot's Cactus Nursery where Mr. Poot himself is always there tending to his spectacular cactus collection.  He has been collecting and maintaining this collection of cacti from around the world for over 50 years, and it is a sight to be seen!

Poot, you never fail to amaze us! 

 I especially love his latest creation-the mickey mouse with hearts in the ears cactus sculpture!

A Summer Dress in the Winter

 

 

(dress- Leifsdottir, shoes-Coach, earrings-F21, tights-Hue, shawl-Marciano, flower hair pin-Clarie's)

This Leifsdottir dress is one of my favorite dresses. I got it on super sale at Anthropologie this summer b/c the zipper was broken.  There was only one on the sale rack and it happened to be my size--score!  All I had to do was repair the zipper and I got the summer dress I had been lusting over in the Anthro window all summer.

This is my take on winter florals.  I love this summer dress, but wanted to make it more seasonally appropriate so I paired it with black to give it more of a classic Film Noir feel. 

The the only thing in the outfit that wasn't black was the dress-- purple almost black lips, black fishnets, black ankle boots, black shawl, black giant flower hair clip, black liquid eyeliner and black earrings.

The best part of an outfit like this is that I didn't have to wait until the sun came out in the Summer to wear it again! 



Thanks MTV Style!

Took a break checking my email over the Holiday and missed that MTV Style posted my Amber Glow image for their "Top Style Bloggers of the Week" post back in December (oops).

You can check out the link here.

Thanks MTV Style! xoxo